N270 Million Or We Won’t Release 9 ABU Students – Kidnappers

Kidnappers holding nine students of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, have said they would only release their victims upon receipt of N270 Million ransom.

The gunmen demanding N30 million for each of their nine victims out of the 13 that were on the excursion journey to Lagos, before the unfortunate encounter along the Kaduna-Abuja highway.

Three students including the driver had escaped the attack.

One of them, Dickson Oko, brought the unfortunate tale to villagers, reports Daily Trust, adding that though there were 12 of them in the bus, including ten females.

Oko apparently ran the race of his life as he had already sustained gun shots injury in the attack, leaving behind some valuables including his phone.

Report of the demand of N270 Million ransom was broken by a female relative of one of the kidnapped students who spoke with the Hausa service of the Voice of America (VOA).

Everything was going well for the students who were on their way to the French Village in Lagos for their language immersion programme until the Akilubu-Gidan Busa axis of the highway.

The gunmen blocked both lanes of the road, immediately opening fire as the students approached.

The driver of the bus identified as Mohammed, is stationed at Mando Park in Kawo, Kaduna.

Narrating the incident, he said: “Immediately they came on the road, the armed men opened fire. They shot two of the students in the bus and we noticed that they had erected a roadblock behind us and another in front. There was another roadblock mounted on the other lane. So the only thing I could do was to stop.”

Though the returned to Kaduna with three students, the whereabouts of the remaining nine is still unknown as at the time of this report.

Parents, colleagues and the school authority are now worried, as the fate of the kidnapped students. The university is saying that eight people were kidnapped, but Mohammed, he had 12 students in the bus – 10 females and two males.

A commercial driver stationed at Mando Park in Kawo, Kaduna, added that they were trapped at about 3:10 pm at Busa, a few kilometres after Akilubu.

 “I opened the door and crawled into the grass. The gunshots were everywhere; the person on the passenger’s seat in front also came down even though he was shot. I crossed onto the other lane. I never knew I would survive because there were gunshots directed at me.”

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The concern around town now, is how parents or the school could raise a whopping N270 million ransom demanded.