Abductors threaten to kill remaining Greenfield varsity students

As kidnappers demand N100m for Kogi council chair
The masterminds of the Greenfield University, Kaduna abduction have threatened to kill the remaining 17 students if they do not get their N100 million ransom today.

Twenty-two undergraduates were seized from campus almost two weeks ago by unknown gunmen. Five of them have since been eliminated by the captors.

In an interview with the Voice Of America (VOA) Hausa, leader of the team, Sani Idris Jalingo (also known as Baleri), handed down the threat in a recorded audio clip that lasted for three minute.

He explained that affected parents had paid N55 million which they allegedly used in feeding the captives.

Jalingo said: “There are 15 females and two males in our captivity, including the son of the late Emir, Shehu Idris, identified as Hamza.

“We have heard the governor ranting that he would not pay a kobo as ransom to any bandit or kidnapper. He even warned his family members that should anyone of them be kidnapped, he wouldn’t pay a kobo to free them.”

The ringleader said they eliminated the quintet to show seriousness.

Asked if he is a hoodlum, he giggled and responded: “I’m not a criminal. I am just living to survive.”

One of the abducted students, who spoke in the video, Hamza, pleaded with government to settle their abductors.

Another undergraduate introduced as Abigail Usman stressed that the bandits meant business.

Prodded if pleading could be potent in the long run, Jalingo asserted: “They should please send the money so that they (students) can be freed.”

Usman, however, appealed to the Kaduna Government and well-meaning Nigerians to promptly effect payment for their freedom.

“We discovered that they are installing trackers on our bikes. We removed some. We can’t be intimidated by that, because we don’t visit the town.

“Now, we want them to pay the N100 million ransom. Failure to meet up with our demand by Tuesday (today), then the parents will pack their (students) bodies in pickups,” he added.

IN the meantime, the abductors of Yagba West Local Council chairman of Kogi State, Pius Kolawole, have demanded a N100 million ransom.

The information was communicated on Sunday night through phone to one of the family members.

The source said the kidnappers had also contacted the state chairman of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) and helmsman of Ijumu council area, Taofik Isah.

Kolawole was on Saturday evening whisked away in Ilorin while returning from his hometown of Egbe, a border town between Kogi and Kwara states.

The Commissioner in the Kogi State Pension Board, Solomon Adebayo (popularly called Akeweje) was killed in the attack but had his four-year-old spared by the assailants.

While the police orderly to the chairman escaped unhurt, the driver was shot but regained consciousness the following day in the hospital.