Health : Abductors of Kaduna students demand N500 million ransom

 

Abductors of the 39 students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna have demanded N500 million ransom for the release of the students.

Parents of the abducted students led by their spokesman, Friday Sani made this known while addressing newsmen in the state on Friday.

The spokesman said the parents have lost hope in the government, hence the need to solicit help from the world.

Recall that the governor of the state, Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai had vowed that his administration would not engage in negotiation with bandits troubling the state.

The governor recently said even if his son is kidnapped, he would rather pray for him to make heaven than pay ransom.

According to the spokesman, “The condition we are in today is very pathetic, and we are calling on the entire world to come to our aid. We held a protest and the Kaduna State Government called us, thinking they were going to give us hope that they will rescue our children. But they told us that anybody caught negotiating with bandits will be prosecuted.

 

“That also led to our second coming out to address the world through the media that it will be better for us to be arrested, even though we have already been arrested emotionally since our children’s abduction.

“We are already under the arrest of the government. Some of us could not eat and sleep while some of us have developed sickness, so there is no arrest higher than this.

“We will continue to protest, no matter the number of security forces. The highest is death and we are ready to sacrifice that for our children who have promising futures,” he said.

“If we can negotiate for the release of our children and succeed and then being arrested afterwards, we will be the happiest people. It is better for us to be in the government’s detention rather than allow our children to die.

“They have demanded about N500 million as a condition for the release of our children, we can’t just keep quiet.

“The government may turn Kaduna into Dubai but if there are no people to benefit from it, then it is a waste of resources. People are not secure; the stories of daily incidents of killings, kidnappings and other forms of crime are disheartening”.

Recall that 10 out of the 39 students who were abducted from the school early in March have been released by their abductors while about 29 of them are still in captivity.