The remaining 29 students of the abducted students of Federal College of Forestry, Afaka, Kaduna have regained their freedom after 55 days in captivity.
Chairman of the Forum of Parents of the 39 Abducted Students, Abdullahi Usman, confirmed the release of the students in an interview.
Yes, they have been released. “They did not sleep in the (bandits’) camp yesterday. They were taken to the residence of one of the mediators to sleep. We have already sent our people with vehicles and ambulance to go and bring them. We are expecting them any moment from now.
On March 11, the bandits invaded the school located along airport road Kaduna and abducted 39 of the students.
Several weeks after, 10 of them were released in two batches of five after the parents reportedly paid N17 million ransom.
Usman described the released of the students as “a big relief to parents”, who, according to him, have been emotionally traumatised since the incident took place.
The parents had on Tuesday protested at the National Assembly in Abuja.
However, attempts to confirm the release of the students was unsuccessful as Mohammad Jalige, spokesman of the Kaduna state police command was unreachable on telephone.
323 Deaths In Three Months
Amid heightened calls for their release by the parents of the victims and concerned persons, the state government insisted that it would not negotiate with the bandits.
It, however, accused the armed men of killing students in the state to blackmail the government and compel it to abandon its ‘no ransom, no negotiation’ policy.
The students were later released in three batches in a space of one month – five on April 5, five on April 8, and 29 on March 5.
Banditry in Kaduna has taken a disturbing trend as the armed men killed a total of 323 people between January and March.
The first quarter security report by the government also revealed that within the period, bandits killed 292 males and 20 females, as well as kidnapped 949 people.
Kaduna Central senatorial district accounted for 236 deaths within Birnin Gwari, Chikun, Igabi, and Kajuru Local Government Areas.
