Abductors of six female students and teachers of Engravers College, Kakau Daji in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, want N50m as ransom to free the victims.
The gunmen, according to sources, have contacted the authorities of the school to give conditions for the release of the abductees.
The Vice Principal of the institution, Mr. Shunom Giwa, who witnessed the Thursday kidnapping from hiding, said the kidnappers would have taken away all the girls found on campus, but for the alarm that he raised from where he was watching them.
A parent confirmed the ransom demand yesterday when our correspondent visited the school at Kakau Daji, off the Kaduna eastern bye-pass.
The parent, who did not reveal his identity, said: “The kidnappers contacted the college and demanded N30m per student.
“We were told that the school authorities told the kidnappers that they could only afford to pay N100,000 for the release of the students and their teachers.
“The kidnappers told them they were not serious to get the children back. Negotiation is still going on.”
The school management has sent the remaining students home on break while it handles the release of the abductees.
One of the traumatized parents, Mr. Julde Juli, whose 15 year old daughter is among the abductees, prayed that the kidnappers release their children alive.
He said he was shocked when he received the news of her daughter’s abduction.
Narrating how the five gunmen struck, the school’s Vice Principal in charge of administration, Giwa, said on Friday that the hoodlums fired at him in his hiding place when he raised the alarm, following the invasion of the school.
He said he was lucky that he was not hit by their bullets.
He said: “It was around 12:10am when we heard noise.I woke up my wife and children. I asked them to go and hide inside the bedroom.
“Before I could come to the sitting room, they were already trying to force open my doors. Then, I asked them not to bother that I was coming to open it for them.
“I opened the door and saw five young men with arms.
“They asked me to lie down, and I did. Then, they asked me to give them what I had in my pocket. I gave them all I had.
“They then attempted to enter my bedroom, but I stood up to distract them. They asked me to lie down again, and I did.
“All of sudden, they brought out my colleague, the Vice Principal, Academy.They also asked him to lie on the floor.
“So, when I discovered that their attention was on my colleague, I just ran into the bush. They shot at me, but fortunately, they didn’t get me. They thought I was inside a class. They searched for me without success.
“When they couldn’t get me, they then started looking for where the students were. They came to the hostel, and forced the door open.
“I started thinking what can I do to distract them. I started shouting, police, JTF, security come, there are kidnappers here. They started shooting towards my direction again. I ran and scaled over the fence.
“I was behind the fence until I heard dogs barking in the bush. I knew they must be the ones leaving.
“I heard my colleague – the matron – calling the name of the Senior Prefect. When I called his name, he answered and I came out. All the girls had moved to the Matron’s house.
“So, we started doing head count to know who and who were taken. We realized that the Vice Principal, Academics, Mr. Joel Adamu; the House Mistress and six female students were abducted.
“The kidnappers have contacted us, we are already on it. By God’s grace, they will all be released today.
“It was because I kept shouting, kidnappers, kidnappers that made them leave the school in a hurry, otherwise they would have had a field day and gone with all the girls.”
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