Abductors of 287 Kuriga schoolchildren give FG 3 weeks to pay N1bn ransom

Abductors of 287 Kuriga schoolchildren give FG 3 weeks to pay N1bn ransom 

Abductors of 287 schoolchildren from a Kaduna community school last Thursday have demanded a ransom of one billion naira ($621,848) with a three-week ultimatum.

They also threatened to kill all of the students if their demand was not met within the given period.

It does appear that a battle line has been drawn as President Bola Tinubu was reported to have said on Wednesday that the Federal Government would not pay any ransom to the kidnappers for the release of the abducted people.

The CNN in a report Thursday morning quoted a member of Kuriga community, where the schoolchildren were kidnapped as saying he was contacted by the insurgents.

Jubril Aminu, a community leader acting as a spokesman for the families of the hostages told CNN on Wednesday, “They called me from a hidden number yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon at around 16 minutes past 12, and demanded 1 billion naira ($621,848) as a ransom for the students.

“They said [the ultimatum] will only last for three weeks or 20 days from the date they kidnapped the children and if there’s no action from the government, they will kill all of them,” said Aminu Jibril, a resident of Kuriga village, in Kaduna State, where the school is located.

The schoolchildren were kidnapped on March 7.

According to Jibril, the perpetrators said the kidnapping was “a way of getting back at the government and security agencies for killing their gang members.”

He said he believed the kidnappers got his number from the head of the school’s junior secondary section, who was kidnapped alongside the students.

Reuters in another report quoted Idris Ibrahim, an elected official from the Kuriga Ward Municipal Council, as also confirming the ransom demand and the amount.

“Yes, the kidnappers called the community through Jubril Aminu’s number and made the demand,” he said.

Background

More than 300 students were taken early Thursday morning by armed bandits on motorcycles who stormed the LEA Primary and Secondary School in Kuriga village, in Kaduna’s Chikun district, the state’s police spokesman Mansur Hassan told CNN on Friday.

Some of the students were rescued but 287 remain with the kidnappers.

About 100 of them are from the primary school and the rest from the secondary school.