Kidnapped Students: abductors insist on 800 million Naira ransom

 

Fear has gripped parents of the students of Greenfield University, Kaduna, who are still being held by bandits, following the killing of three of the kidnapped students.

The parents are under serious pressure to raise the N800 million ransom demanded by the gunmen.

President Muhammadu Buhari vowed on Saturday that bandits, kidnappers and their patrons who are behind recent violent activities in the country will pay for their brutality with the same measure of recompense under the full weight of the law, while Northern governors described the development as shocking, barbaric and condemnable.

The identity of the third murdered student was revealed on Saturday as Precious Nwakacha.

The only male among them, Abubakar Yusuf Sanga, was buried on Friday. The other victim is Dorathy Yohanna.

Precious Nwakacha  a.k.a Presh hailed from Nnewi, Anambra State.

Describing herself on her Facebook wall, she said: “I’m an Igbo girl and I love having fun.”

She had 1,060 followers.

Sources close to the parents told The Nation in Kaduna on Saturday that the kidnappers were insisting on getting N800 million as ransom.

The parents of the 29 abducted students of the College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, Kaduna, are in a similar dilemma.

The tormentors of their children are demanding N500 million as ransom.

The parents of the Greenfield University students are understood to be going through severe psychological torture, not knowing what could become of their children for as long as they remain in captivity.

The management of the university confessed yesterday that it was overwhelmed by the development and it needed help to secure the safe release of the students and staff.

The university’s Registrar, Bashir Muhammad, said in a statement that efforts so far made to secure the release of abductees have not yielded the desired results.

He pleaded with government and people of goodwill “who can be of assistance to come to our aid as the situation is becoming overwhelming.”

He appealed to “those in custody of our staff and students to spare their lives.”

The chairman of the Parents Association of the College of Forestry Mechanization, Samuel Kambai, declined yesterday to comment.

One of the parents told The Nation that they have resorted to prayer for the safe return of their children, as the bandits are insisting on N500 million ransom.

The parent said: “We are scared about the safety of our children. We have started negotiation with the bandits. We had paid them more than N15 million before they released 10 students.

“What they told us was that they were going to be releasing our children in batches. So, when they released the initial five, we became very hopeful. Then they released another five after one week. Since then, they have refused to release the others as promised.

Now, they are renegotiating the ransom. They are now going back to the initial N500 million. We have begged them and told them we only have N4 million on ground, but they are not ready to listen to us.

“They are also asking us to facilitate the release of some of their members in security custody in Abuja, but we told them that we are not security people or constituted authority and as such, we cannot get their members released. That is where we are now.

“So, we are now praying to God to intervene and help us touch the hearts of the abductors to release our children unconditionally.”