Barely a week after the abductors of Greenfield University students killed two more abductees, increasing it to five, the bandits have threatened to murder the 17 other students in captivity if the Kaduna State Government failed to pay N100 million ransom within 24 hours.
The bandits further demanded that aside from the money, the government should also send 10 Boko Haram motorcycles before the abducted students would be set free and that if they were not sent, the students would be executed.
Among the students under captivity and could be executed by gunmen were 15 women and two men including Hamza, the grandson of the late Emir of Zazzau, Shehu Idris.
Speaking on behalf of the abductors, Sani Jalingo, popularly known as “Baleri”, told newsmen on Monday that this was the last deadline and that if the government did not yield, severe action would be taken on the students.
Baleri, who reiterated that he was serious about the threat, said there were now 15 women and two men in their custody, including the grandson of the late Emir of Zazzau Shehu Idris, Hamza.
While disclosing that the parents of the students sent N45 million in compensation, the bandits leader said that they had reduced the N600 million earlier demanded to N100 million.
Baleri explained that the funds provided by the abductees’ parents were used to buy cookies and other needs for the students in order to keep them alive.
While addressing the newsmen in Hausa Language, he said five of the students were killed to prove that the state and the federal governments have failed their citizens.
“We heard the utterances of the Kaduna State Governor that he will not pay ransom to bandits to purchase additional arms. He also said he told his family that he will not pay a 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.”
One of the students, Abigail Usman, who spoke during the telephone conversation, appealed to the government to pay the ransom and secure their release.
It would be recalled that last week two more students in captivity were killed by their abductors, bringing the tally of students executed since their abduction to five.
The development was confirmed by the state’s Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, who said that the students were murdered by the abductors.
