By Adesina Soyooye
Over 40 days after their abduction, the heart- warming news from Kaduna is that the remaining 17 students of Greenfield University, and three staff members have been released by their abductors on Saturday, May 29, 2021.
The students and staff members were abducted from their hostel on April 20, 2021. Their abductors had asked for the sum of N800m and 10 motorcycles for their release.
But the Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, had sworn not to pay a kobo in ransome money.
Three days after their abduction, three of the students were slaughtered. And, another two slaughtered two days later.
One of the students was released, reportedly, after his parents paid the sum of N20 million.
Parents of the remaining students had, collectively, paid the sum of N60m, but the abductors insisted on an extre N100m, and ten motor cycles. Their leader, in an audacious interview with the BBC, Hausa Service, had insisted on that.
The Parents of the students appealed to the Federal Government to meet the demands of the bandits and save the lives of their children since the Bandits had threatened to kill the remaining students.
This prompted Islamic Scholar, Dr Abubakar Gumi, who usually mediates between bandits and State Governments, to ask the FG to pay the ransome money.
It is not known, yet, the circumstances under which they were released – whether the N100m and 10 motorcycles were given to them or not.
The Greenfield University, Kaduna, is a privately owned University, founded in 2019.
Its Proprietor is Simon Nwakacha, an Engineer, who hails from Anambra State.
…More Details, later.
