Thirty-six days after gunmen kidnapped 39 students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Mando, Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State, parents of the remaining students in captivity said on Friday that the kidnappers reached out to them at last.
According to the parents, the kidnappers are threatening to kill all the male students and marry off the females if the parents fail to pay a N500m ransom to secure their release.
Addressing a press conference at the college’s premises on Friday, the secretary of the parents’ association, Mr Friday Sani, called on individuals, non-governmental organisations and others to help raise funds for the students’ release.
Sani said the bandits contacted them individually since the government refused to yield to the kidnappers’ demand.
He stressed that the bandits were demanding a N500m ransom before they could release the remaining 29 of the abducted students.
He dared the state government for its hard stance on not paying ransom, saying the parents were no longer afraid of arrest and prosecution as allegedly threatened by the government.
Sani said, “We are calling on Nigerians, non-governmental organisations and other donors to come to our aid and donate to rescue our children. We don’t know what is happening to them. The bandits have threatened to kill our children if we play with them.
“The other time, they (bandits) said they would marry off the females and kill the men and that a time would come when even if we brought the money, the money would not be useful.
“The government has said any parent who negotiates with the bandits will be prosecuted, but most of the parents have already been arrested emotionally. AK-47 guns are being pointed at our children. The fate of our children is what we don’t know. They have spent 36 days without clothing, food and potable water.”
Sani said they previously protested against the state government’s inaction to secure their children’s release, noting that instead of giving them hope, the government allegedly warned them that anybody caught negotiating with bandits would be prosecuted.
Sani said this situation made them to address the world again on Friday. He said the parents could no longer eat or sleep and many of them had fallen ill due to their children’s continued captivity.
He said, “We will continue to protest, no matter the number of security forces. The worst thing is death and we are ready to sacrifice for our children who have promising future.
“If we can negotiate for the release of our children and succeed, and then we are arrested afterwards, we will be the happiest people. It is better for us to be in the government’s detention than allow our children to die.
“The fate of our children is what we don’t know and that is the problem we have. The government has kept silent since the release of 10 of the children.
“The government can turn Kaduna into Dubai, but if there are no people to benefit from it, then it is a waste of resources. People are not secure; the stories of daily incidents of killings, kidnappings and other forms of crime are disheartening.
“We are pleading with the government to ensure our children don’t lose their lives in the course of any action they want to take to secure their release.”
Gunmen attacked the forestry college at about 9.30 pm on March 11, shooting indiscriminately before taking some students. The college was said to have about 300 male and female students, mostly aged between 17 and older, at the time of the attack.
The school is located opposite the Nigerian Defence Academy along the Kaduna International Airport Road.
The state Commissioner for Internal Security, Samuel Aruwan, said 39 of the students – 23 females and 16 males – were missing while the army was able to rescue 180 people after a battle with the gunmen.
Two days after the kidnapping, a video surfaced online showing the abducted students crying for help and pleading with the government to pay a N500m ransom demanded by their abductors.
In the viral video, the students were seen sitting on the ground and pleading that the ransom for their release be paid while they were surrounded by about seven gun-wielding bandits dressed in military camouflage.
Some of the females dressed only in their nightwear and some others had only wrappers covering their bodies. The kidnappers were seen using whips to lash some of the students.
In the video, a male student spoke on behalf of others, calling on the government to raise the ransom for their release before it was too late.
However, after spending almost one month in captivity, 10 of the 39 students were released by their captors, remaining 29 others in the kidnappers’ den.
The students were reportedly released in groups, five of whom were freed on April 5, and an additional five on April 8.
But the state government released a statement informing the public that anyone who tried to pay ransom on behalf of the government would be prosecuted.
The state governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has repeatedly frowned on paying ransom, reiterating that his government was not ready to negotiate with kidnappers.
The governor also even said in a radio interview that if his son was kidnapped, he wouldn’t pay a ransom, adding that there was no other way to approach the current insurgency than for security forces to take the war to the bandits and take over the forests they were occupying.
As a result of the students’ continued captivity, some medical experts had told punch that the students might suffer from panic disorder, nightmares and other manifestations of post-traumatic disorder.
The medical experts, comprising psychologists, psychiatrists, and mental health advocates, warned that when eventually released or rescued, the students could suffer from depression, difficulty with attention in class, lack of trust, and other mental issues.
Mass kidnappings in the North-West are among the security challenges facing the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd).
The region has in recent years been in the grip of bandits who are largely driven by financial motives and have no known ideological leanings.
Between December and now, bandits have carried out massive kidnappings of schoolchildren in Jangebe, Zamfara State; Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State; and at the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State.
Meanwhile, Aruwan said on Friday that the state government would not take issues with the abducted students’ parents.
He said the government shared the pains of the abducted students and that it would continue to work hard until banditry was contained in the state.
Aruwan said this in a statement titled, ‘Between El-Rufai and parents of abducted students is empathy.’
He said, “Contrary to the mischief in some sections of the media, the bond between the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, and the parents of the abducted students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, and other citizens in captivity is deep empathy amidst spirited efforts to secure them.
“The governor will continue to work hard until banditry is contained without succumbing to emotional blackmail and gradual politicisation of the unfortunate situation.
“For instance, some sections of the media have been reporting the parents’ responses to purported threats by the governor to prosecute them, which is simply false and deeply mischievous.
“The statement of the government warning impostors who have been presenting themselves as government-appointed emissaries to negotiate with bandits across the state has nothing to do with the parents or relatives of the abducted students or any other person in captivity. It was rather directed primarily at some identified individuals exploiting the security situation in the state and neighbouring states.”
“Finally, the state government will not take issues with the parents, whose pain we understand and with whom we share the common goal of the return of all the abducted students,” Aruwan added.

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Ignore the idiots, make them chop the body.