Abductors of Kaduna Schoolgirls Demand N50m Ransom

By John Shiklam in Kaduna

Abductors of the six female students and two staff of Engravers College, Kakau Daji, in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna state have demanded for a N50 million ransom.

The students and the staff were abducted on Thursday at about 12:10am when the bandits invaded the school.

One of the two security guards in the school was said to have been shot and wounded when he attempted to fire a Dane gun at one of the criminals.

A staff of the school who spoke on condition of anonymity said the bandits called in Thursday at about 7:00pm to demand for a ransom of N50 million.

“Yesterday in the evening, they called and said we should pay N50 million for release of the students and the two staff that they kidnapped.

“But we pleaded with them that things were hard and we didn’t have that kind of money. They also said things were also hard for them.

“We begged them to collect N100,000, but the man laughed and said N100,000 is nothing. He said that he as a person can even dash somebody N100,000.

“This morning (Friday) they called again and we are still negotiating,” he said.

Meanwhile, parents have since evacuated their children from the school following the incident.
But the Director of the school, Mr. Samuel Amamchukwu, said the school was closed temporarily for two weeks as academic activities cannot continue while the six students and two staff are in captivity.

The school according to the Vice Principal (administration), Mr. Funom Giwa, was established in 2004 and had graduated 10 sets of students.

When contacted, spokesman of the Kaduna state police command, Yakubu Sabo, said the police had mobilised a manhunt for the criminals with the aim of apprehending them and rescuing the victims.
“Operations are still going on, our men are still in the bush, we are trailing them, it is a combine efforts (with other security agencies).

He said a combined team of police mobile anti-kidnapping squad, SARS and operatives of Operation Puff Adder were on a manhunt for the criminals.