Two teenage seminarians abducted from the Catholic Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary School in Ivianokpodi, Agenebode, Edo State, have appeared in a chilling video pleading for their lives and calling on their parents and well-wishers to pay ransom for their release.
The seminarians were kidnapped on July 10, 2025, when gunmen stormed the school in Etsako East Local Government Area, killing a Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps officer assigned to the premises. Three seminarians were initially taken, but one was later freed, leaving two still in captivity more than a month after the attack.
Following the abduction, Edo State Commissioner of Police, Monday Agbonika, ordered the immediate deployment of tactical teams with a mandate to track down the perpetrators and rescue the victims unharmed. He vowed that the police would “not relent until those behind this reprehensible act are made to face the full wrath of the law.”
However, hopes for a swift resolution dimmed after a video surfaced this week, purportedly released by the kidnappers. In the footage, the two young seminarians, visibly distressed and surrounded by masked gunmen brandishing assault rifles, hold dried human skulls as they make their desperate plea.
“They kill people here. Our abductors have threatened to kill us. Please, send money to them to spare our lives,” one of them says in the video.
The spokesperson for the Catholic Diocese of Auchi, Rev. Fr. Peter Egielewa, confirmed the authenticity of the recording, describing it as a worrying development.
“The video you see of the seminarians holding a human skull is real. We are negotiating with the kidnappers, but they are asking for money which we do not have. I think it’s out of frustration they did that video,” Egielewa explained.
Efforts to obtain further comment from the police on Thursday were unsuccessful. The Edo State Police Command has yet to publicly respond to the video or provide an update on the status of the rescue operation.
The incident adds to growing concerns about the rising wave of kidnappings targeting educational institutions and religious facilities in Nigeria, with clerics and security experts repeatedly calling for stronger measures to protect vulnerable communities.
