Fourteen students and two staff members who were kidnapped from the Greenfield University Campus, have finally been released after spending forty days in captivity. Five of the twenty-one students abducted on 20th April have since been murdered by the kidnappers who demanded a ransom of 800 million naira in order to secure the release of the students.
The nation newspaper reported that the abductees were dropped off at a hotel around Command Junction in Chikun local government area of Kaduna metropolis. Videos of the emotional reunion between students and their parents have been shared multiple times online. In one of such videos, there was a face-off between aggrieved parents and policemen who demanded to take the released students into custody. Multiple news sources report that a ransom to the tune of 150 million naira were paid by parents to secure the release of the children from the kidnappers’ den.
Since their abduction, President Muhammadu Buhari in May appealed for their release to no avail. Also, the Kaduna state government and the Nigerian government discouraged the parents from paying ransom to the kidnappers. Recall that the parents of the abducted students stormed the National Assembly complex on May 4th to express disappointment over how the government handled the abduction of the students.
Speaking with pressmen following the release of the students, relatives complained bitterly about the neglect they faced from the government and mentioned that the leader of the kidnappers gave an ultimatum of Tuesday after which the abductees will be killed. It was gathered that family members had to solicit funds and sell properties to meet this deadline.
As at the time of this publication, the management of Greenfield University, which had been shut down for over a month is yet to release an official statement.
