By Damola Emmanuel
A big transport of joy enveloped the Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria, Sunday, as news filled the airwaves that the nine students of the University’s Department of French, who were kidnapped by gunmen, last Sunday, November 15, 2020, had been released from captivity.
A local newspaper, the News Express, reported that the abducted men regained their freedom Saturday night after their abductors had collected a ransom of N1 million per person.
The kidnappers had earlier demanded N270 million ransom.
The victims were abducted on the dangerous Abuja-Kaduna Expressway on November 15, 2020, as they journeyed from Zaria to Lagos for an academic exchange programme at the French Village, Badagry.
Dickson Oko, one of the students who managed to escape alongside Nurudeen Mohammed, the driver of the bus, revealed that the kidnappers had demanded N30 million ransom on each of them.
But the university authority would neither confirm nor deny if any ransom was paid.
The university’s Chief Security Officer, Mr. Ashiru Zango, told Premium Times that “Yes, they (the captives) have been released but I’m waiting to get the full details from their HOD who is in charge of the negotiations.”
The were conflicting reports on the actual number of students kidnapped. While the university authorities claimed that eight of the students were abducted, Nurudeen Mohammed, the driver, insisted that nine students were seized. He said he was conveying 12 students and three escaped with him into the bush during the attack.
He further revealed that their bus was trapped at the Akilubu-Gidan Busa axis of the highway when the bandits blocked the two lanes and opened fire on them.
The Abuja-Kaduna expressway has, for some time, been a target for kidnappers who have terrorized travellers for over three years, still counting.