The three female students of the Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary, Ikorodu, Lagos abducted from their hostel on Monday, February 29, have been rescued by the police.
It was gathered that the schoolgirls were rescued in Imota during an operation that started in the early hours of Sunday.
A medical examination was conducted on the girls at an undisclosed hospital under the supervision of the Lagos Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni.
No ransom was paid for their release.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde, confirmed the rescue via a tweet.
It reads: “The three abducted school girls in Ikorodu have been rescued by the Police. Lagos is working. Gov (Akinwunmi) Ambode salutes the courage of the Police.”
The three abducted school girls in Ikorodu have been rescued by the Police. Lagos is working. Gov Ambode salutes the courage of the Police
— Steve Ayorinde (@stevoree) March 6, 2016
Addressing journalists on the safe rescue of the girls at Lagos House, Alausa, Ambode warned that the state government will spare nothing to clamp down on all forms of crime in the state.
Timilehin Olusa, Tofunmi Popo Olaniyan and Deborah Akinayo were abducted by gunmen suspected to be pipeline vandals dislodged by a special security task force codenamed Operation Awatse.
“Let me warn that the state government will not tolerate kidnapping or any forms of crime in the state. Our position is clear and unambiguous; Lagos State has the capacity and the will to go after every form of crime and criminality in order to safeguard lives and property in the state,” the governor said.
He expressed relief and excitement at the rescue of the girls by security operates, just as he commended the efforts of security operatives who led the rescue efforts.
“The Lagos State Police Command, the Department of State Security and members of the armed forces worked tirelessly round the clock in the last six days to secure the release of the children. I thank them for a good job.
“The three girls have been safely reunited with their families and the government wishes to assure Lagosians that their security is top priority and it will not relent in ensuring that Lagos remains safe and secure,” he said.
Ambode said one of the suspected kidnappers, identified as Emmanuel Arigidi, was arrested during the operation by security operatives to release the abducted children.
“As our daughters are reunited with their mothers and other members of their families, I would like to seize this opportunity to wish all mothers in Lagos State and Nigeria at large a happy Mothers’ Day,” he said.
State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, said three suspects were arrested in the operation that led to the rescue of the girls, adding that one of the suspects (Emmanuel) was actively involved, while two others – Seun Akanji and one Henry were conspirators who aided the kidnapping one way or the other.
Owoseni disclosed that the girls were rescued around Imota in Ikorodu, but declined to disclose further details in order not to jeopardise ongoing investigation.
He said: “With respect to the state of the girls, they are very well and they are stable. I can confirm that immediate medical attention just to test them up has been given to them by the police medical team and I can as well tell you that as we picked them up, one of the questions we asked the girls was whether they were molested in any way and the three of them stated unequivocally that they were not molested in any way.”
When asked if ransom was paid, Owoseni said nothing of such happened as police deployed intelligence, using the platform of technology and partnering with members of the community to put pressures on the kidnappers to secure the release of the girls.
He added: “When you talk about ransom in cases like this, you are glorifying kidnapping. We should not be talking about ransom anymore in this country because if you do, you are telling others that kidnapping is viable and you can be going and kidnapping people to collect money.
“But I want to also say that what was employed in rescuing the girls is more of application of intelligence-led policing using the platform of technology, partnering with members of the community and pressures on the kidnappers because what we have done with other security agencies is that we also went for members of their families including their mothers, their fathers, their children and with that pressure they found out that there was no way again for them to keep on keeping the girls and that was what led to the success we recorded in rescuing the girls.”
He assured residents that Lagos remains safe and secured saying that the state government and security agencies have the capacity to pursue any criminal who dare at all to come and disturb the peace or to commit crime in the state.
