After 40 Days in Captivity, 14 Abducted Kaduna Varsity Students Regain Freedom

*3 still in captivity

By John Shiklam in Kaduna

Fourteen of the remaining 17 abducted students of the Greenfield University, Kaduna have been released after 40 days in captivity.

Three of them are still being held in captivity.
On April 18, 2021, bandits invaded the university, which is located along the dreaded Kaduna- Abuja road, at about 8:30pm and abducted 23 students.

Few days after their abduction, the bandits who had demanded for N800 million, killed five of the students when negotiations were still going on.

One of the parents was said to have paid a ransom of N20 million for the release of her son.
Spokesman of the Kaduna state police command, Mohammad Jalige, confirmed the release of the 14 students when contacted on telephone.
Jalige who said the students were released Saturday evening, added that three of them were still being held.

“Yes, 14 of the students of the Greenfield University were released from captivity this evening (Saturday), remaining three of them still in captivity”, Jalige said.
He did not however give details of how the students were released and why three of them were still being held captive.

When contacted, the Registrar of the university, Mr. Mohammed Bashir, said he was busy and promised that he will confirm later.
Asked if he could confirm the release of the students, he said was very busy and promised to confirm later.

“Yes we are still on it, I am very busy right now. You can call me back later to confirm”, he said on telephone.
One of the students had earlier been released after his parents were said to have paid N20m ransom to the bandits.

One Sani Idris Jalingo, who claimed to be the leader of the bandits who abducted the students, had in an interview with the Voice of America (VOA), Hausa service, on May 3, threatened to kill them if a ransom of N100m in addition to 10 new Honda motorcycles were not provided the following day.
Jalingo had disclosed during the interview that the families of the abducted students paid N55 million

However, in a statement on May 14, 2021, the spokesman of the parents, Mr. Marcus Zarmai said the parents contributed N60 million as ransom for the release of the students but the bandits failed to release them.

After series of negotiations, the bandits were said to have demanded the sum of N10 million from each of the parents of the students for their release.
It could not be immediately established how much each parent paid for the release of the students and why three of them are still in captivity.

On March 11, 39 students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna were abducted in a similar manner when bandits invaded their school at about 11: 30pm.
The last batch of 27 of the students were released about two weeks ago after spending 56 days in captivity.

Kaduna is one the states with high rate of insecurity such as bandits’ invasion of communities, killings and abductions almost on a daily basis.