The remaining 29 students abducted from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka in Kaduna State have regained freedom after spending 55 days in bandits’ den.
The Chairman of the Parents’ Committee, Mr. Abdullahi Usman, confirmed the release of the students by the bandits to newsmen on Wednesday in Kaduna.
He explained that their children were released some minutes past 4pm around the Kidanda area in Giwa Local Government Area of the state, and have been moved to the state capital.
The Chairman of the parents’ committee, however, declined to disclose the amount of ransom paid to the bandits for the release of the students.
It was freedom at last for the remaining students of the institution after spending 55 days of horror in the bandits’ captivity.
However, Daily Trust reported that a ransom of about N15 million was paid to the bandits and a convict was released before the bandits freed the students.
The convict, who was identified as Laulu, was moved to Kaduna from a police facility in Kano on Tuesday ahead of the prisoner swap.
The negotiation suffered setbacks after the abductor, known as Buderu, revoked his promise even after payment of the agreed sum.
It was also learned that one Buhari, known as General, who is also a wild bandit, had to be brought in to use his son to force Baderu to agree to the deal.
However, Baderu insisted that even if no more money would be given to him, a relative of his arrested at Falgore Forest in Kano State must be released.
On March 11, 2021, bandits had stormed the school in the Igabi Local Government Area very early with the intention to abduct many students.
They set out on a mission that could be described as a silent attack; a student who sighted them raised an alarm, which resulted in tension in the school premises.
Soldiers in the area responded promptly to a distress call and engaged the bandits in a fierce gun battle in a bid to thwart the attempt.
The action of the security operatives led to the rescue of 180 people, which included 132 male students, 40 female students, and eight civilian staff.
Despite the prompt military intervention, the bandits still abducted 23 female and 16 male students, leaving their parents in despair with calls on the government to rescue them.
Unfortunately, one of those missing was a female student, Fatima Shamaki, whose father died from a heart attack on hearing the news of the abduction of his daughter.
The bandits have released videos in which they made some demands and threatened to kill the students if their demands were not met.
Amid the heightened calls for their release by the parents of the abductees and concerned persons, the state government insisted that it would not negotiate with the bandits.
The Kaduna government, however, accused the gunmen of killing students in the state to blackmail the government and compel it to abandon its policy of ‘no ransom, no negotiation’.
In the space of one month, the students were released in three batches, with five on April 5, five on April 8, and 29 on March 5, 2021.
Banditry in Kaduna has taken a disturbing trend as the armed men have killed a total of people between January and March 2021.
The first quarter security report by the state government revealed that within the period, the bandits killed 292 males and 20 females while kidnapping 949 persons.
The Kaduna Central Senatorial District accounted for 236 deaths within the Birnin Gwari, Chikun, Igabi, and Kajuru Local Government Areas.
