After five deaths, over 200m ransom, another set of Polytechnic students abducted in Kaduna

Gunmen have, again, struck at a tertiary institution in Kaduna State. This time, it is the Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic in Zaria, where one student reportedly died, while other students and staff were taken away into the nearby bushes.

No word has come in from security agencies or the state government, but an official of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Aliyu Kofa, was quoted as saying that two lecturers, Habila Nasai and Mal Adamu Shika were among those taken away.

It is third time in a year that higher schools have been abducted with over N200 million allegedly paid out as ransom to free them, while at least six died in captivity. First was the Federal School of Forestry Mechanisation, and then privately-owned Greenfield University.

The Kaduna government has a policy of not negotiating with bandits or abductors, so parents have had to negotiate to free their children and wards.