#AfakaAbduction: “Help Us” Parents Of Abducted Students Lament During Protest In Abuja

Parents of the abducted students of Federal College of Forestry and Mechanisation Afaka, Kaduna, Northwest Nigeria, have called on the Nigerian Government to help quicken the release of their children during a protest in the nation’s capital, Abuja on Tuesday, May 4. 

Speaking to reporters during the protest, Zachariah Rabiba, an aggrieved mother to one of the abducted students said: “help us, government help us. It’s going to be 55 days today, getting to two months on Thursday.” 

“Help us please, this pain is too much, last year they said corona, this year is kidnappers, these people are supposed to have graduated since last year … I don’t have a husband. I am a widow … I don’t have anyone except God.”

The parents had in the past staged a protest against the state government’s handling of the kidnap case.

On Friday, March 12, a terror group abducted 39 students –23 females and 16 males– when they invaded the school in Igabi Local Government Area of  Kaduna State.

Twenty-five days after they were abducted, five of the 39 students regained freedom, though it was not clear if a ransom was paid.

Another five were released afterwards, which came on the heels of a threat by their parents that they would negotiate with the terrorists following insistence of Nasir El-Rufai, Kaduna State Governor that his administration would not negotiate with the terrorists.

On Thursday, April 27, a video emerged of the remaining abducted students pleading with the Nigerian Government to ensure their safe release. The abduction of students for ransom is on the rise in the Northwest region of Nigeria. 

HumAngle reported that  22 students and staff members of Greenfield University, a private tertiary institution in Kaduna State, were on Tuesday, April 21, abducted from the university campus by terrorists. Few days after the attack, five of the abducted students were found dead in a village close to the university.

Despite the killing of five of the 22 students abducted from Greenfield University, the Kaduna State Government has maintained its stance not to negotiate with the terrorists behind the abduction.

According to the Nation newspaper, parents of the remaining 17 students in captivity had been begging the terrorists to spare the lives of their wards.

They lamented that after raising and paying N55 million to the kidnappers, they should respect the agreement to free the children.

The kidnappers on Monday issued Tuesday, as an ultimatum for the payment of N100 million or they would kill the 17 students, the newspaper reported. According to them, the N55 million paid had been used to “feed the students.”