The gunmen who kidnapped 287 students last week from a public school in Kuriga, Chikun Local Government Area, Kaduna State are demanding a ransom of N1 billion for their release.
The kidnappers established contact on Tuesday with the school’s principal, Abubakar Isah, who was taken alongside the pupils on Thursday.
At around 2 p.m. on Tuesday, the terrorists phoned Aminu Kuriga, a friend of the school’s principal, and requested the cash.
“One of the abductors called, using a private number. He said they were at the northern fringe of Dansadau (a community in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State) if we bring the amount, all the children will be released.
“We briefed the Kaduna State government about the telephone conversation, they took note and asked us to go”, a resident said asking for confidentiality.
IdanNews gathered that the place where the terrorists urged villagers to deliver the ransom is part of Kwiambana Game Reserve, a notorious woodland that runs through Nigeria’s northwest and north-central regions.
The majority of the forest is located in Dansadau Emirate, Zamfara State. Dansadau covers 492 square kilometers of Zamfara State’s 1180 square kilometers, accounting for more than one-third of the state’s total land area.
A group of students from the Federal University Gusau in Zamfara State who were kidnapped by suspected terrorists in September were relocated to the Kwiambana Game Reserve and have yet to be freed.
The Kaduna State Government has yet to comment on the developments. When journalists attempted to contact the state’s Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, his phone number did not work late Wednesday.
However, Mansir Hassan, the state police spokeswoman, said that the command was ignorant of the development. He stated that measures were on to ensure the unconditional release of the children.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu has promised not to pay a ransom to kidnappers in any region of the country.
Mohammed Idris, the Information Minister, announced this in Abuja while addressing journalists on Wednesday, adding that the president has also asked security services to oversee the release of all kidnapped victims without the payment of ransom.
“Mr President has also directed that the government would not pay a ransom to any of these criminal elements. “I think it’s important to put this out there,” the minister remarked.
