Abductors of the six female students and two staff of Engravers College, Kakau Daji, in Chikun LGA of Kaduna state have demanded for a N50 million ransom. The students and the staff were abducted on Thursday at about 12:10am when the bandits invaded the school.
One of the two security guards in the school was said to have been shot and wounded when he attempted to fire a Dane gun at one of the criminals. A staff of the school who spoke on condition of anonymity said the bandits called in Thursday at about 7:00pm to demand for a ransom of N50 million.
“Yesterday in the evening, they called and said we should pay N50 million for release of the students and the two staff that they kidnapped. “But we pleaded with them that things were hard and we didn’t have that kind of money. They also said things were also hard for them. We begged them to collect N100,000, but the man laughed and said N100,000 is nothing. He said that he as a person can even dash somebody N100,000. This morning (Friday) they called again and we are still negotiating,” he said.
Meanwhile, parents have since evacuated their children from the school following the incident.
But the Director of the school, Mr. Samuel Amamchukwu, said the school was closed temporarily for two weeks as academic activities cannot continue while the six students and two staff are in captivity.
The school according to the Vice Principal (administration), Mr. Funom Giwa, was established in 2004 and had graduated 10 sets of students.
When contacted, spokesman of the Kaduna state police command, Yakubu Sabo, said the police had mobilized a manhunt for the criminals with the aim of apprehending them and rescuing the victims.
“Operations are still going on, our men are still in the bush, we are trailing them, it is a combine effort (with other security agencies). He said a combined team of police mobile anti-kidnapping squad; SARS and operatives of Operation Puff Adder were on a manhunt for the criminals.
Meanwhile, Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai said his child will remain in public school in spite the reported invasion of the state by kidnappers and Boko Haram elements. The governor, who spoke to State House correspondents in Abuja on Friday, said his child should not be safer or more protected than any other child in the state.
“My child should not be safer or more protected than any other child in Kaduna State. I took an oath of office to protect everyone and my child is just only one of the two million children we have in Kaduna state primary schools and I have no intention of reviewing that.
“For me taking my child to a government school was not only a commitment I made but a clear expression that I have enough confidence in the quality of our public schools for my child to attend. We have already given directives that all the staff of our Ministry of Education who is in charge of managing our education system must have their own children in government schools,’’ he said
On the abducted persons, the governor said the state government, parents and guardians of the victims as well as security agencies were doing everything possible to secure their release. El-Rufai dismissed the insinuation that parents were withdrawing their wards from schools following the reported abduction of the students and teachers at the Engrave’s College in Kakau Daji.
