Bandits free five more abducted Kaduna students
Five more students abducted by bandits from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation Mando in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State have regained freedom.
This is coming barely 72 hours after the first set of five students were freed by the bandits.
By this, the total numbers of the students freed so far to 10, remaining 29 others still in their captors’ den.
One of the parents of the students, who confided in one of our correspondent in Kaduna on Thursday evening, said the released students were on their way to the hospital.
“We learnt that security operatives had gone to the Giwa axis of the state to pick up the students. We don’t know the hospital they are being taken to at the moment,” he said.
On Wednesday, the Kaduna State Government had handed over the first set of the kidnapped students to their parents at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House, Kaduna in the state capital.
The state Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, while presenting the students to their parents, had given the names of the first set of five students freed as Abubakar Yakubu, Francis Paul, Obadiya Habakkuk, Amina Yusuf and Maryam Danladi.
One of the released five students, Francis Paul, a 200 level undergraduate of Agricultural Technology of the college, had narrated how they were released by the bandits as well as confirmed the authenticity of the video released by the bandit few days after their abduction.
According to Paul, the bandits said when the students were being flogged, the governor will be moved to come and pay the N500m ransom demanded.
As of the time of filing this report, the Kaduna State Police Command had yet to confirm the release of the new set of students.
The Command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Mohammed Jalige, could not be reached as repeated calls to his telephone indicated the line was busy and he did not respond to the text message sent by our correspondent either.
It was reported that on the night of March 11, 2021, the bandits in large numbers invaded the school located opposite the Nigerian Defence Academy along the Kaduna International Airport road and abducted 39 students.
