KIDNAPPERS have threatened to kill the remaining 17 students of a private university, Greenfield University in Kaduna State if ransom isn’t paid by Tuesday.
Recall that they had first killed three of the students, and later another two, while demanding N800 million ransom from their parents to secure the release of the students.
The students were kidnapped from their school on April 20, with the state governor Nasir El-rufai insisting he won’t negotiate with the bandits to secure their release.
Sani Idris Jalingo who had identified himself as the leader of the bandits in a telephone conversation with the Hausa service of the Voice of America (VOA), said 17 of the students are still in their custody.
The terrorist said that the families of the students had already paid N55 million which he claims was used to feed the abductees.
He added that a ransom of N100 million and 10 motorcycles must be made available before the students would be set free.
“We heard the utterances of the Kaduna State Governor that he will not pay ransom to bandits to purchase additional arms,” Jalingo said in the interview in Hausa.
“He also said he told his family that he will not pay ransom if any of them is kidnapped. So, we want to show that the Nigerian Government has failed that is why we killed the students.”
Jalingo said the victims in their custody include 17 girls and two boys one of which is the grandson of the late Emir of Zazzau, Shehu Idris.
Two of the abducted students who spoke to the VOA during the interview appealed to the government and their parents to take pay the ransom.
“They mean what they say because they have already killed some of us,” says Idris, one of the kidnapped students.
'Niyi worked with The ICIR as an Investigative Reporter and Fact-checker from 2020 till September 2022. You can shoot him an email via [email protected]. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @niyi_oyedeji.