Kidnappers leak video of Forestry College students, demand N500m

Agency Report

At least two videos of some of the 39 students kidnapped from the Federal College of Forestry Maintenance on Thursday are in circulation in the social media.

The videos show the students cowering on a forest floor as armed captors hit them with sticks.

They beg for help in English and Hausa, with one of the students saying the captors want N500 million as ransom.

One of the abducted 16 male Forestry college students

“If anybody comes to rescue them without the money they are going to kill us,” a male student says in the video as a man with a gun stands behind him.

The Kaduna state government has confirmed thirty nine students are missing after gunmen stormed the college overnight on Thursday.

It was the fourth school abduction in northern Nigeria since December.Video Player

And it showed the abductors have simply ignored President Buhari’s vow to end the serial abductions of students.

College Provost Bello Mohammed Usman and the mother of one kidnapped student on Saturday identified those shown in the video as some of the abducted students, including one pregnant woman.

Usman declined to comment on the ransom request.

Abubakar Sadiq, executive secretary of the Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency, said he was unaware of the video and that he had no authority to comment on the ransom demand.

Earlier on Saturday, Kaduna state security commissioner Samuel Aruwan confirmed nine more students were missing than previously thought – 23 females and 16 males.

“The Kaduna state government is maintaining close communication with the management of the college as efforts are sustained by security agencies towards the tracking of the missing students,” Aruwan said.

The armed gang broke into the school, in Mando area of Kaduna, near the Nigerian Defence Academy at around 11:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Aruwan said a further 180 students and staff members who were staying at the school were rescued early on Friday.

Attacks by gangs of armed men, known as bandits, have intensified for several years.

Military and police attempts to tackle the gangs have had little success.

Many worry that state authorities worsen the situation by letting kidnappers go unpunished, paying them off or providing incentives.

In a statement on Saturday, President Muhammadu Buhari urged that the missing students be found and returned safely to their families.

Gloria Paul said she recognized her 20-year-old daughter, Joy Kurmi Paul, in the video, wearing a pink headscarf.

Outside the school on Saturday, the mother begged for help.

“Please, government should help us get them released without hurting them,” she said as tears rolled down her cheeks.