After Receiving N60m Ransom, Abductors of Greenfield Varsity Students Cut Contact with Parents

After demanding a whooping N100m  ransom and 10 brand new motorcycles from the Government for the release of the abducted students of  Greenfield university Kaduna, the parents of the victims collectively raised N60m to pay the abductors in high hopes of securing the release of their children but unfortunately the reverse has been the case.

Recall that Sheik Gumi had warned the Federal Government to pay the demanded ransom to the abductors to save the lives of the victims before its too late, a call which is yet to be responded to.

About 5 of the students were killed a week after abduction leaving 16 of them with a lecturer (17 in total) still in the custody of the kidnappers while their lives hang by a thread.

Parents of the remaining 16 abducted students of Greenfield University, Kaduna State, have been thrown into further confusion, following the decision of the kidnappers to cut further communications with them.

Sources said the last time the kidnappers called any of the parents was eight days ago, during which they made fresh demand of N10 million ransom on each of the 16 students and a staff of the university still being held, which comes to N170 million.

The decision of the kidnappers to cut communications for days has been causing great anxiety among the parents, with some of them afraid for the lives of their children.

“We don’t know what is happening again. We don’t know what is happening to our children. They (kidnappers) are not talking to us again. You know they have been threatening to kill them if we don’t pay more and suddenly we are not hearing anything again. We are so scared and praying that God will touch their hearts not to harm our children. We are anxiously waiting for them (bandits) to call and say something, so that we will know that our children are alive,” remarked one of the parents yesterday.

The distraught parents are appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to help secure the release of the students before “something sinister happens to them.”

Speaking in Kaduna yesterday during a special prayer session for the release of the students, spokesman of the parents, Mr. Marcus Zarmai, urged Buhari to use his good offices to secure the release of their children.

According to him, the kidnappers have demanded N10 million from each of the parents of the students, making a total of N160 million for 16 students.

“We are worried about their safety. The innocent students had spent 24 days in the kidnappers’ den. Even after, we the parents have collectively paid them over N60 million ransom for the release of our children, they failed to release them.
“We, the parents are appealing to the federal government to assist us to pay the ransom demanded or find any other way to ensure the safe return of our children,” Zarmai pleaded.