Abductors of the Kaduna State students and staff have made new ransom demands. The six students and two staff, the Vice Principal and the Matron, of Engravers College, Kakau Daji Chikun local government were abducted on Thursday by gunmen.
The Abductors who earlier made a demand of N50million as ransom for all the victims, TheCable, however, reported that the gunmen have demanded each of the captives should pay a sum of 10million each, making a total of N80 million.
In an interview on Sunday which was reported by TheCable, an official of the school who is involved in the bargain for the victims’ freedom, said the kidnappers had been provoked by the reports of the abduction on BBC, and thereafter discarded the initial arrangement.
The official said;
“They (kidnappers) called individual parents and asked them to pay N10 million each. They said they don’t want collective bargain again, every parent should pay N10 million for the release of their children,” the official said.
“They told us that they heard the story on BBC. They called me and they were insulting me. They said they don’t want a collective bargain again. They said every parent should pay N10 million.
“They insulted me because they thought I was negotiating for the ransom on behalf of the government. I told them that when such incidents happen, newspapers and radio stations always report it for the world to know.
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“They asked me whether I am a lawyer, I told them that I am a teacher. They asked whether I am the proprietor of the school. I told them that I am not the owner of the school. Then asked me to remove my hands off the issue and face my business.
“They asked me whether I can recall some expatriates that were kidnapped sometimes ago. They said they were the ones who abducted them and that it was the government that paid the ransom.
“I pleaded them to have mercy on the parents of the children because they don’t have that kind of money.”