Families take over negotiations for wards’ freedom as bandits free five more Kaduna Forestry Students

Following Sunday’s statement by the Kaduna state government that it has not appointed anyone to negotiate for release of abducted persons, parents have picked up the gauntlet and now negotiating to get their loved ones abducted from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Kaduna freed.

Five more have been freed leaving 29 more with their captors, while the government and security agencies watch helplessly.

Three days after bandits released five students out of the 39 abducted from Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka in Kaduna State, five more students have been freed.

According to the Daily Trust newspaper the students who just regained freedom are currently on their way to the hospital.

Reliable sources told Daily Trust that four male and a female students were picked up by policemen around Giwa Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

One of the sources, a security agent, told our correspondent that plans are being made for the students to be moved to a police facility for treatment.

Five of the Forestry School students, who were released by bandits on Monday, were later picked up by the Nigerian Army and conveyed to an army hospital for health evaluation.

One of the earlier released students, Francis Paul, had narrated how the bandits selected five of them and asked them to mount motorbikes after which they were dropped off on a highway.

Daily Trust had reported that following continuous negotiations between the bandits and parents of the Forestry School students, the bandits hinted that the students would be released in batches.

GreenWhiteGreen GWG reports that the Kaduna State Government had decreed that no one should negotiate with the bandits and stipulated harsh sanctions for those who it said talk with kidnappers in the state.

This is the second batch of release; the first batch comprise of Mary Danladi, Abubakar Yakubu, Francis Paul, Obadiya Habakkuk and Amina Yusuf who were reunited with their family on Wednesday.

In a security update last Sunday by Samuel Aruwan, the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, and titled, ‘No intermediaries appointed by Governor El-Rufai to negotiate with bandits’, the Kaduna government said,

“The attention of the Kaduna State Government under the leadership of Governor Nasir El-Rufai has been drawn to reports in the media that it has appointed representatives to interface with bandits on its behalf.

“The Kaduna State Government hereby clarifies firmly that such intermediaries have never been appointed.

“The position of the Kaduna State Government remains the same: the Government will not negotiate with or pay ransoms to bandits. Any person who claims to do so in any capacity, if found, will be prosecuted accordingly.

“Citizens are urged to report the details of any persons posing as official government negotiators to the Kaduna State Security Operations Room on 09034000060 and 08170189999, or email internal.security@kdsg.gov.ng. “

▪︎ Additional reports by Daily Trust