Kidnapped Afaka students’ parents say lost hope of govt intervention

Lament N500m Demanded By Abductors
Parents of the abducted students of College of Forestry and Mechanisation in Afaka, Kaduna State, said yesterday they have lost hope of government’s intervention in securing the release of their children.

According to the aggrieved parents, the kidnappers have demanded N500million before the release of the remaining students in their custody.

It would be recalled that 39 students of the institution were kidnapped on March 11, but 10 of them have so far been set free.

Addressing journalists yesterday in Kaduna, their spokesperson, Friday Sani, said the abductors had resorted to calling them personally to request for ransom amounting to N500million for the release of their children.

“The condition we are in today is very pathetic and we are calling on the entire world to come to our aid. We held a protest and the Kaduna State Government called us, thinking they were going to give us hope that they will rescue our children, but they told us that anybody caught negotiating with bandits would be prosecuted.

“That also led to our second coming out to tell the world that it will be better for us to be arrested, even though we have already been arrested emotionally since our children’s abduction.

“We are already under the arrest of government, as some of us could not eat or sleep, while some have developed sickness. So, there is no arrest higher than this.

“We will continue to protest, no matter the number of security forces. The highest is death and we are ready to sacrifice that for our children who have promising future,” Sani said.

He insisted that they were not afraid of arrest of any kind, as Governor Nasir el-Rufai had earlier threatened, adding: “If we can negotiate for the release of our children and succeeded and then being arrested afterwards, we will be the happiest people. It is better for us to be in government’s detention rather than allow our children to die.

“The fate of our children is what we don’t know and that is the problem we have. Government has kept silent since the release of 10 of the children. Maybe it is because we are no longer talking, addressing the media or protesting on the street, the government has remained quiet about our abducted children.

“We wouldn’t mind if the government takes credit for the release of the 10 students. Be that as it may be, we want them to secure the release of others, so that we can applaud them the more. People are not secured, the stories of daily incidents of killings, kidnappings and other forms of crime is disheartening. He called on the minister of environment, Director General of Forestry, United Nations (UN), humanitarian agencies and the international community to come to their aid and ensure safe return of their children.