Categories: metro

Breaking: Bandits release another 32 Kaduna Baptist school students, remaining 31

Parents of abducted school children of the Bethel Baptist High School wait for news on their children in Damishi Kaduna, Nigeria, Tuesday July 6, 2021. Dozens of students were abducted Monday by suspected bandits at Bethel Baptist High School in Damishi town of Chikun Local Government Area in Kaduna State in northern Nigeria. Bandits stormed the school early Monday, around 2 a.m., shooting sporadically as they kidnapped the students, said police spokesman Mohammed Jalije. (AP Photo)

Bandits have released 32 of the remaining 63 abducted students of Bethel Baptist High School in Damishi, Kaduna State.

Thirty-one students are still being held by the bandits.

Chairman of the Kaduna State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Joseph Hayab, confirmed the students’ release on Friday.

He said the 32 students were released Friday evening, adding that 31 were still with the bandits.

Hayab said the released students had been reunited with their parents.

Last week Friday, 15 of the students were released by the bandits — despite promising to free them all.

On July 5, 2021, bandits had invaded the school located some few kilometers from Kaduna metropolis and abducted 121 students.

The bandits had said the students would be released in batches when they freed the first set of 28 on July 25, 2021 — after they reportedly collected a ransom of N100m.

Following the release of the 28 students, the bandits were said to have demanded another N80m as ransom for the remaining students.

President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, Israel Akanji, had said, “The number was smaller than what we were expecting because we had 78 children out there. They had earlier given us 15, that means 63 to come.

“But in everything, God said we should give thanks and we are giving thanks for what he has done. We are trusting that the same God who has brought these 15 out is going to help us to receive the other 63.”