…the gunmen, who wore masks and drove a vehicle without number plates, allegedly followed the girl’s mother before intercepting them at a junction leading to the school.
OYO, NIGERIA- The iNews Times | Gunmen have abducted a 12-year-old secondary school student in the Challenge area of Ibadan, an incident the Oyo State Police Command has described as a suspected kidnapping, assuring residents that efforts are underway to rescue the girl safely.
The victim, a Junior Secondary School 2 student of Monarch Model College, was reportedly taken in the early hours of Thursday while being dropped off at school. Witnesses said the gunmen, who wore masks and drove a vehicle without number plates, allegedly followed the girl’s mother before intercepting them at a junction leading to the school.
The gunmen, said to be armed, reportedly fired shots into the air to scare away bystanders and deflated a tyre of the mother’s Toyota RAV4 with Lagos registration number KRD 350 GP. Despite resistance, the girl was forcefully taken as the gunmen fled through the Challenge axis.
The matter was immediately reported at the Orita Challenge Police Station, where officers visited the scene with the victim’s mother for an initial assessment.
Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Olusola Olayinka Ayanlade, said a suspected kidnapping was reported in the area in the early hours of Wednesday, February 12, 2026.
According to the command, at about 7:20 a.m., the student was allegedly abducted by unidentified armed men at a junction near the school as she alighted from the vehicle that brought her.
Police said detectives were swiftly deployed to the scene for preliminary investigations. Eyewitnesses were identified and questioned, with their accounts said to be providing useful leads.
The command added that the victim’s parents are in close contact with the police as efforts continue to rescue the child safely.
The Commissioner of Police, CP Femi Haruna, has ordered a thorough, intelligence-driven investigation to uncover the circumstances surrounding the incident and ensure those responsible are brought to justice.
The police appealed to residents to remain calm and cooperate with authorities by providing any relevant information, assuring that such details would be handled confidentially. They added that updates would be shared as investigations progress.
