TWO students of the Federal University, Wukari, Taraba State, who were abducted ten days ago have been freed.
According to the institution’s head of the Information and Protocol Unit, Ashu Agbu, who confirmed their release to Channel’s TV on Friday, April 12, the students were freed after paying N700,000 ransom.
Agbu said the students were freed Thursday night near Chinkai village in Wukari Local Government Area of the state.
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She said the students, Joshua Sardauna from the Economics Department and Obianu Elizabeth from the Microbiology Department, had come to the institution to write carryover papers when they were abducted.
She promised that the school would allow them to retake the papers even though the examinations had been concluded.
The victims were abducted from a nearby shop near the school on Wednesday, April 3, around 10:00 p.m., after which their captors placed N50 million ransom on them.
The university’s chief security officer (CSO), Sule Gani, confirmed the abduction to the media in Jalingo, the state capital.
Gani claimed that the gunmen, whom he claimed to be armed Fulani herdsmen, kidnapped a male and a female former university student who had come to write their carryover papers.
The ICIR reported on March 14 that over 1,000 schoolchildren have been kidnapped in Nigeria since the Chibok school abduction in April 2014.
Within the past three administrations, the abduction of school children has generated millions in ransom for kidnappers, as fresh attacks indicate there is no end in sight to the menace.
The ICIR had reported how Buhari’s administration recorded 300 per cent more schoolchildren abductions than Jonathan’s.
Available data show that Kaduna State has experienced more schoolchildren abductions than any other state in Nigeria.
While some of the schoolchildren kidnapped have been rescued, either through the effort of security operatives or ransom paid by families, others are still held in captivity. Student abduction is just one out of many insecurity crises facing Nigeria.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance