Parents of the 39 students at the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State, on Monday gave the Federal and Kaduna State Governments 48 hours to rescue their children.
The students were kidnapped from their school 12 days ago.
“It is now 12 dark dreary days since the unfortunate incident happened and we as parents have not received any positive message from either the school management, the Minister of Environment under whose ministry the school is or the Kaduna State Government under whose territorial jurisdiction the school is located. This silence is unacceptable as it only feeds our hopelessness with each passing day,” a spokesman for the parents, Comrade Friday Sanni, told reporters.
He spoke at a press briefing before they staged a peaceful protest at the premises of the College on Monday.
“We have therefore called for this press conference to call the attention of Government at State and Federal levels and all stakeholders involved, and indeed the world, to act with dispatch to ensure the immediate and safe release of our children.”
Sanni said parents were of the opinion that enough was not being done by both governments to rescue the students.
Videos released by the captors went viral soon after the students’ abduction, showing their kidnappers traumatizing them and forcing them to beg the Nigerian government to pay a ransom of N500m.
The kidnappers convinced the students to warn the government not to try to rescue them by force, as their captors were fully prepared and would turn around and kill them should that attempt be made.
