Abductors of students of Greenfield University, Kasarami, in the Chikun Local Government Area have made contacts with the families of the students captured in the school in the early hours of yesterday to demand N800million as ransom for the release of their children.
Hours after the abduction, it was gathered that 20 students, comprising 14 females and 6 males, were abducted.
Two female staff of the university were also abducted.
The terrorists have also threatened to kill the students if the ransom is not paid, according to a relation of one of the students who spoke with TheNation.
A relative of one of the victims, who preferred anonymity, also claimed that the abductors have been beating the students, insisting on the urgency of the payment.
There have been cases of mass abductions of students in the Northern part of the country recently.
The Northwest, in particular, has become a hotbed of abductions and wanton killings by bandits.
The abduction at Greenfield University was the second at a tertiary institution in Kaduna state since March.
On 11 March, 39 students of Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, in Kaduna were also abducted. Ten of them have been released.
Governor Nasir el-Rufai of the state has, however, insisted not to enter into peace talks with bandits or embrace the policy of pacification of granting them amnesty stressing that they have challenged the sovereignty of the country and they deserve nothing but death.
He even threatened to arrest and prosecute anyone caught negotiating with bandits on behalf of the state government.
Our attackers were ‘small boys’, Greenfield varsity student
Reacting to the latest abduction in a statement issued last night, the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said troops had been deployed to the area of the university.
The statement read, “After search-and-rescue operations, a staff member of the university was confirmed to have been killed by the bandits, while a number of students were kidnapped.
“The security operatives took custody of the remaining students, who have been handed over to the institution, as at noon, Wednesday 21st April.”
Aruwan said the actual number of students kidnapped is still being sought from the institution’s records.
“Troops and other security operatives are working in the general area, and the public will be informed of further developments,” Aruwan said.
