Wum: Five kidnapped teachers freed.

We gathered that the teachers; Kometa Divine, Kum Nchia Diedonne, Kum Nadine and Ache Presilla, were freed by their captors on Wednesday, but only got reunited with their families on Thursday, September 10.

They are said to have spent the night outside Wum in the home of a good Samaritan, following their release from captivity. They were later yesterday escorted to Wum by soldiers from the Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR, camp in Wum. 

The Guardian Post gathered that the BIR soldiers were informed of the development before heading to the neighbouring locality to take them home. 

The teachers spent just a single night in captivity, following their abduction on Tuesday.

They were kidnapped by suspected Amba fighters, who also shot and killed the Special Branch Police Commissioner of Wum, Senior Superintendent of Police, Mbah Tobie Damase.

The Senior Superintendent of Police was killed on the campus of Government Teachers Training College, GTTC, Wum, while accompanying Menchum Senior Divisional Officer, SDO, on a guided tour of schools in the area.

North West Governor, Adophe Lele L’Afrique, confirmed the attack in a statement released Wednesday, before expressing government’s indignation.

He recounted that: “…on September 8, 2026…a group of terrorists infiltrated the campus of Government Teachers’ Training College, GTTC Wum in Menchum Division…and took hostage teachers as the Senior Divisional Officer for Menchum was touring schools to assess the effectiveness of the 2026/2027 school resumption in his area of command.”

The Governor continued that: “While the convoy got stuck in a muddy road some 50 meters to the aforementioned campus, the Senior Superintendent of Police, Mbah Tobie Damase who crossed first, had advanced straight to the campus. Upon alighting from his vehicle, the armed infiltrators rained bullets on him, killing him instantaneously and whisked off to an unknown destination with five teachers of the said school, namely…Kwa Hope (Principal, GTTC Wum), Ache Presilla, Kometa Divine, Kum Nadine and Nchia Dieudonne”.

“In these painful circumstances, the Governor, on behalf of the Head of State, expresses his heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved family as well as compassion to the loved ones of those in captivity,” he stated, noting that he was strongly condemning the barbaric act on school campus at the start of the 2026/ 2027 academic years.

The Governor had called on the education community, the entire population especially families of those abducted to remain calm “as the situation is diligently being monitored”.

PM condemns attack

Meanwhile, in an outing on Wednesday, on X (formerly Twitter), the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Dr Chief Joseph Dion Ngute, condemned the killing of the Police Commissioner in Wum and abduction of teachers, describing it as ‘one, too many.’

The Prime Minister noted that he was “deeply saddened by the attack on GTTC Wum, which claimed the life Commissioner Mbah Tobie Damase and led to the abduction of five staff members”.

Dion Ngute had stated his thoughts “were with their families and with people of the North West and South West Regions”. He had said “every effort is being made in restoring lasting peace to our Regions”.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3906 of Friday September 11, 2026