Abduction: kidnappers demand food items such as rice, beans, seasoning and oil for 121 Students

 

Bandits, who invaded Maraban Rido in the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Monday and abducted some students of the Bethel Baptist High School, Damishi, have reached out to the management of the institution to demand foodstuffs.

The PUNCH learnt that the hoodlums asked for food items such as rice, beans, seasoning and oil to feed the students.

A member of the school management, who confided in one of our correspondents on Tuesday, stated that the bandits said 121 students of the school were in their custody.

According to the school official, the bandits first called on Monday and allowed one of the students to speak to a top member of the school management.

It was learnt that they called again on Tuesday and allowed two senior students, a boy and a girl, to speak to a top official of the school.

It was gathered that the senior students confirmed that there were 121 of them with the bandits.

The official, who confided in The PUNCH, said, “When the phone rang, the bandits first spoke to the member of the management. They said a senior student was directed to count the students in their custody and the boy confirmed that 121 students were being held. They also asked for food such as rice and beans as well oil to feed the students.

Later, the senior student, who counted the abductees, said there were 121 of them with the bandits.”

Parents, school management meet

The management of the school and parents of the abducted students met on Tuesday on ways to rescue the abductees.

This was just as the school management confirmed that 121 students were being held by the bandits.

The proprietor of the school, who is also the President, Kaduna Baptist Conference, Rev Ishaya Jangado, made the confirmation.

The meeting lasted several hours amidst threat by the parents to embark on another round of protest and block the Kaduna-Kachia Highway, where the school is located.

The parents, mostly women, had indeed blocked the highway before operatives of the Kaduna State Vigilante Service prevailed on them to abandon the protest.

The parents also held a prayer session for God’s intervention in the rescue of their children from the kidnappers’ den.

Shortly after that, Jangado confirmed to newsmen that no fewer than 121 students were in the custody of the kidnappers.

He said 28 students were “recovered” on Monday after the bandits attacked the school.

He explained that the total number of students in the boarding house was 154 and that 28 were recovered, while 121 were in the bandits’ custody. He, however, did not provide any explanation on the remaining five students.

He said, “For now, we know that we have 154 students in the school hostel and yesterday (Monday) after the exchange of fire between the soldiers and the bandits, we came to the school and recovered 28 students; some of them were hit in many places. In the course of being taken away, some of them escaped and they came back to the school.

“So, the total number of students we recovered yesterday (Monday) was 28 and today (Tuesday), by the grace of God, we got a call from the bandits and they assured us that our children are well and doing okay.

“In fact, we had the privilege of speaking with a few of them. They counted themselves in the jungle and they gave us information that they were 121, and when we put the number together with what we have recovered, we discovered that the number is exactly the same as the number of students we have in the hostel.”