Armed gunmen on Tuesday afternoon invaded a secondary school in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State, disrupting national examinations and abducting six individuals, including the school head and multiple students. The daring daylight assault has triggered widespread panic across the academic community and surrounding communities in the state.

The Kogi State Police Command officially confirmed the security breach on Wednesday morning, identifying the targeted institution as Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina. According to law enforcement officials, the heavily armed attackers breached the school premises at approximately 5:25 p.m. while academic activities were actively underway.

At the time of the invasion, students were inside classrooms writing papers for the ongoing National Examinations Council [NECO] terminal examinations. The bandits capitalised on the vulnerability of the exam setting, rounding up victims before fleeing into nearby forest reserves.

Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Salisu Oyiza, confirmed that the abductees included the school principal, one NECO ad-hoc staff member, and four students. In response to the crisis, a combined team of police operatives, military personnel, and local vigilantes immediately launched a coordinated search-and-rescue operation.

Giving an update on the emergency response, ASP Oyiza revealed that security forces have successfully rescued one of the abducted students. The joint task force remains on the trail of the fleeing assailants to secure the safe release of the remaining five victims and apprehend the perpetrators.

The high-level gravity of the situation prompted an immediate deployment of top security chiefs to the area for an on-the-spot assessment. Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Naziru Kankarofi, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, traveled to the scene to directly coordinate tactical operations.

In a separate, bizarre security development, the police command also confirmed an armed ambush on a funeral convoy along the Ochadamu-Ejule Expressway. Bandits attacked a vehicle conveying the corpse of a deceased Federal Road Safety Corps [FRSC] official, Augustine Ikwue, temporarily abducting the occupants before security forces recovered the casket and vehicle.