Panic gripped Aragba-Orogun community in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State on Thursday after suspected bandits reportedly targeted a primary school, forcing pupils, teachers and other school workers to flee.
Sources in the community said the scare began when strange men, suspected to be kidnappers, allegedly entered the school and attempted to abduct a pupil. The attempt was, however, unsuccessful.
A security source at the Orogun Police Division confirmed the incident, saying the police immediately deployed a surveillance team to the school after receiving a distress report.
According to the source, police operatives, supported by local vigilantes, launched a search operation in the surrounding forest to track down the fleeing suspects.
As of the time of filing this report, the operation was still ongoing, while details of the incident remained sketchy.
The development sparked fear across the community, prompting many parents to withdraw their children from schools over safety concerns.
The incident comes weeks after a similar scare in Ibusa and Ogwashi-Uku communities in Delta North, where rumours of suspected kidnappers in a primary school forced parents to rush to schools and take their children home.
The panic reportedly started after a woman claimed she saw a group of suspiciously dressed men entering a primary school in Ibusa. The rumour quickly spread to neighbouring communities, causing widespread disruption to academic activities.
Some schools remained shut the following day, while others recorded poor attendance by both students and teachers. At Adiagbo Secondary School, Ogwashi-Uku, fewer than 30 students reportedly turned up for classes.
The Delta State Police Command later dismissed the report of kidnappers or bandits in any school as false, describing it as a rumour.
The Command’s spokesperson, SP Bright Edafe, also denied claims that the woman who raised the alarm had been arrested.
“There was panic in the communities as parents hurried to schools to withdraw their children. Following the fear, some schools shut their gates. In the confusion, a woman and her children reportedly fell into gutters and sustained injuries,” Edafe said.
A trader at Afor Market in Ogwashi-Uku, Mrs. Cordelia Onukwu, said she immediately rushed to Anishi Primary School to pick up her daughter after hearing the rumour.
“Na God go help us. Insecurity na our trouble now and nobody go hear say kidnappers enter school and parents go sleep. So I have to go and collect my child,” she said.
Normalcy later returned to the affected communities, with academic activities resuming after the police debunked the earlier rumour.
