Gunmen demand $622,000 ransom for 287 kidnapped school children in Nigeria, pledge to kill them if not paid
A local community member revealed to CNN that the gunmen have issued a threat to end the lives of all abducted students unless their ransom demands are fulfilled.
Gunmen who abducted 287 school children in Nigeria have asked for a ransom of 1 billion naira ($621,848) and threatened to harm the students if their demands are not met. A member of the local community shared this information with CNN.
A resident named Aminu Jibril from Kuriga village in Kaduna state, where the school is situated, received a call from the kidnappers. They demanded the ransom within three weeks or they would kill all the children. Jibril mentioned that the call came from a hidden number on Tuesday afternoon.
The children were taken by kidnappers on March 7. Jibril shared with CNN that the kidnappers mentioned it was their method of retaliation against the government and security forces for eliminating their fellow gang members.
The member of the Kuriga community mentioned that he thought the kidnappers obtained his number from the head of the school’s junior secondary section, who was also kidnapped with the students.
More than 300 students were abducted by armed bandits on motorcycles in the early hours of Thursday. The incident took place at the LEA Primary and Secondary School in Kuriga village, located in Kaduna’s Chikun district, according to the state’s police spokesman Mansur Hassan as reported by CNN on Friday.
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An urgent search is currently taking place for Nigerian students who have been kidnapped. Despite some students being rescued, 287 of them are still being held captive by the kidnappers. Among the group, approximately 100 students are from the primary school while the remaining students are from the secondary school.
The Kaduna Governor, Uba Sani, mentioned in a statement on Thursday that his government is working tirelessly to bring back the abducted pupils and students safely.
He also mentioned that a brave community member lost his life while confronting the abductors during the attack.
Kaduna state, located near the Nigerian capital Abuja, has been facing a serious issue of kidnappings for ransom by bandits. This has led to multiple mass abductions in the area, including incidents in the district where the LEA Primary and Secondary School is situated.
In 2021, a distressing event took place when armed individuals abducted a total of 140 students from a private secondary school.
Just a few months later, a group of about 20 students from a private university in Chikun’s Kasarami village were kidnapped by armed individuals. Tragically, five of these students lost their lives when the ransom demands were not fulfilled, as reported by family members to CNN.
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