The father of one of the 39 students abducted from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization Afaka, near Kaduna, has died.
Malam Ibrahim Shamaki, father of Fatima Ibrahim, one of the students, became ill about a week after the news of the students’ abduction broke out.
Shamaki’s death came as unidentified gunmen Friday abducted 8 members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Kaduna State.
The members were said to be on their way to Kafanchan in Kaduna State when they were kidnapped.
The Afaka students were kidnapped about two weeks ago when the gunmen swooped on them on their campus, carting them away at night.
A few days later, the kidnappers released a video in which the students were seen pleading for the Nigerian government to pay the ransom of N500 million demanded by the gunmen.
Sources say Fatima was the female student wearing Hijab and spoke in Hausa in the video, appealing to the government to waste no further time to come to their safety. They advised the government to not try any form of military rescue, as their captors were ready to rebuff any such move and in turn deal with them.
In their frustration, parents of the students had issued a 48-hour ultimatum to both the Federal and Kaduna Kaduna State governments to rescue the students, some of whom were half bare in the videos, as they were at the time of their kidnap.
The Kaduna State government has said it would neither negotiate with nor pay ransom to the bandits holding the students.
Pastor Olaitan Olubiyi, the Head of Media and Public Relations for the RCCG, has confirmed the kidnap of the church members.
Also, the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Kaduna State branch, Rev (Dr) John Joseph Hayab, said the RCCG members were kidnapped close to Doka on the Kachia-Kafanchan Highway on Friday evening.
