{"id":73667,"date":"2026-04-17T12:03:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T12:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/04\/17\/gunmen-attack-passenger-bus-in-benue-state-kidnap-nigerian-students-2\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T12:04:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T12:04:40","slug":"gunmen-attack-passenger-bus-in-benue-state-kidnap-nigerian-students-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/04\/17\/gunmen-attack-passenger-bus-in-benue-state-kidnap-nigerian-students-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Gunmen attack passenger bus in Benue state, kidnap Nigerian students"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \"><span class=\"oyrPY qlwaB AGxeB  \">Abuja, Nigeria &#8212; <\/span>Gunmen attack a passenger bus <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nigeria\">from nigeria<\/a> Benue state on Thursday kidnapped some students on their way to university examinations, officials said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The students and other travelers were abducted along the Otukpo-Makurdi highway, Benue Governor Hyacinth Aliya said in a statement late Thursday. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The governor did not say how many people were taken, but local media said the plane was carrying 14 passengers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;Targeting innocent civilians, especially students going to appear for exams, is unacceptable and goes against every norm of humanity and civil order,&#8221; Alia said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The governor said search and rescue operations are ongoing in the north central state to ensure the safe return of all the abducted persons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">No group has claimed responsibility for Thursday&#8217;s kidnappings. Benue has been a hot spot for armed violence in the Northern region of Nigeria where armed gangs often target remote villagers and travelers with violent killings and kidnappings for ransom.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/nigeria-school-abductions-bandits-boko-haram-527d72882b7692de8c806d784661590e\">kidnapping of students<\/a> Insecurity has come to define Africa&#8217;s most populous country, and analysts say it is often because armed gangs see schools and students as &#8220;strategic&#8221; targets to attract more attention.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Aliya urged residents to remain calm and continue to cooperate with security agencies in rescue efforts and other operations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">&#8220;We will continue to take decisive action to protect lives and property,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Abuja, Nigeria &#8212; Gunmen attack a passenger bus from nigeria Benue state on Thursday kidnapped some students on their way to university examinations, officials said. The students and other travelers were abducted along the Otukpo-Makurdi highway, Benue Governor Hyacinth Aliya said in a statement late Thursday. The governor did not say how many people were<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[1279,22539,5064,3657,6101,2515,5755,2035,377],"class_list":{"0":"post-73667","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bible-news","8":"tag-attack","9":"tag-benue","10":"tag-bus","11":"tag-gunmen","12":"tag-kidnap","13":"tag-nigerian","14":"tag-passenger","15":"tag-state","16":"tag-students"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73667"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73677,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73667\/revisions\/73677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}