Parents apprehensive fear over fate of remaining Kaduna college students

It is five weeks since the incident occurred, and 10 of the 39 abducted students were released in two batches, leaving 29 students in captivity.

When gunmen, on March 11, 2021, gained access to the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State and abducted 23 female and 16 male students, not many believed the victims would remain in captivity for more than a week. However, five weeks after the incident, the abductors have released 10 students, leaving 29 in captivity; hence their parents are subjected to fear and anguish.

Fear, anguish and anger have overcome the parents of the remaining 29 students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, who were abducted on March 11 in Kaduna State.

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It is five weeks since the incident occurred, and 10 of the 39 abducted students were released in two batches, leaving 29 students in captivity.

Many of the affected parents who spoke to our correspondents expressed fear that the longer the students remained in captivity, they were likely to be passed to other sets of bandits, who may move them outside Kaduna State. Many of the parents, who did not want their names mentioned, for fear of intimidation from government officials, told Daily Trust Saturday that the bandits had threatened that they may never see their children again. Reports have also circulated that the bandits within the enclave of Buruku/Airport forest, where it is suspected that the students are held in captivity, are notorious for transferring victims to other bandits for a price.

Daily Trust gathered that though the release of the 10 students, comprising seven males and three females, had caused a lot of excitement among parents and the college community, many have expressed anguish at the failure of the bandits to release the remaining 29, even as the holy month of Ramadan has commenced.

Two days after the first batch of students were released, Abubakar Yakubu, Francis Paul, Obadiya Habakkuk, Amina Yusuf and Mary Danladi, were led into a hall at the Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, limping, looking worn-out and emaciated. It was a similar situation with the second batch of five, who were released two days.

The students appeared fragile, an indication of what they went through in captivity. Narrating their experiences, Francis Paul, a 200-level student of Agriculture Technology, said they were fed twice a day and given dirty water from a stream to drink.

From Paul’s story, it was clear that he made the list of the five released students because of his ill health. According to him, the condition they were kept in was terrible, coupled with starvation and contaminated water; hence he fell ill.

“The food was not enough because we were many; and they dropped it in one plate, so before you could put your hand to dish it out, it was finished. We were all forced to sleep on the ground,’’ he narrated.

Asabe Danladi, one of the parents who have been actively demanding the release of their children, told Daily Trust that she was lucky to have her daughter back. She told our correspondents that her daughter, Mary, was among those who were released during the first batch.

Asabe said she had sent her daughter to her sister to enable her stay back and ensure that the remaining students are released.

“We want the remaining students to come out safely. My daughter is still trying to regain her strength. We are happy she is back home safely, but our job is not finished, we want others out too. And we are doing everything possible to ensure that they are reunited with their families,” she said.

At the early stage of the incident, the bandits had insisted on negotiating with government and had made a demand of N500million for the release of the 39 students. Daily Trust had gathered from some of the parents that the bandits had even warned them not to call them, as they only preferred to deal with government representatives. However, with Governor Nasir el-Rufai being adamant that he would not negotiate with them, the bandits have now reached out to individual parents to demand for ransom.

Sources confirmed to our correspondents that the release of the 10 students had come after intense negotiations with the aid of intermediaries. All the 39 students were expected to be freed, but the abductors only released 10, and have, in the last few days, reached out to parents individually to demand for ransom.

One of the parents who spoke with our correspondents anonymously said an unknown number had called him two days ago, and when he answered, he heard his daughter crying and pleading with him to heed to the bandits’ demands.

“No parent should be allowed to go through what we are going through; it is unfair. Our children are in an unknown forest and being tortured. The bandits have not stepped down from the initial N500 million they are requesting. They told me to check the first video they released on Facebook, where they demanded N500m. They told me that their demand had not changed,” he said.

A female parent, whose daughter is still in captivity, gave a similar account, adding that the abductors had threatened that she would never see her daughter again if she failed to raise money for her release.

“I told them that I had sold everything I had and could only raise N200,000, but they told me that I should prepare to lose my daughter.

“What does the government want us to do? The government and the school authority are saying the bandits are only bluffing, but I am not willing to test them because I know they will not test them either if their children were in captivity,” she said.

The parents said that with Governor El-Rufai’s threat to prosecute parents who decide to negotiate with the bandits, and having to live with the torture of their children’s wailing voices and threats from the bandits, many of them were emotionally torn apart.