Suspected gunmen have abducted students travelling for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) along the Makurdi-Otukpo road in Benue State.
Anene Sewuese, police spokesperson for Benue Command, confirmed the incident on Thursday but declined to provide further details.
“You said you want to confirm. It is confirmed,” she told TheCable by telephone.
The victims, predominantly young girls and boys, were among other travellers when their bus came under attack on Wednesday night, according to multiple reports. They had been en route to their respective examination centres.
The PUNCH newspaper reports that both the bus driver and one passenger managed to escape the abduction. It further quoted Ifeanyi Emenari, Benue Commissioner of Police, as saying 14 passengers were seized.
The commissioner added that an investigation has commenced, focusing on the circumstances surrounding the journey.
Maxwell Ogiri, chairman of Otukpo Local Government Area, said security operatives had been deployed to the area.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) had earlier announced that approximately 2.2 million candidates would sit for this year’s UTME, which commenced today across the nation. The examination is being conducted at 966 computer-based test (CBT) centres nationwide.
On Tuesday, Tunji Disu, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), ordered the deployment of rapid response teams to CBT centres across 15 states.
