Brigands who abducted pupils of the Salihu Tanko Islamiyya School in Tegina town in Rafi Local Government of Niger State have made contact with the management of the institution asking it to pay N110 million ransom for the freedom of the pupils.
The school’s headmaster, Mr. Abubakar Alhassan who disclosed this said the bandits reached out to the school around 4pm yesterday.
He said the abductors claimed they had 156 pupils with them.
The headmaster said the kidnappers threatened to kill all the pupils if the ransom was not paid by the end of today (Wednesday).
Alhassan said the message had been passed to the state government which said it would not pay ransom for the release of the children.
Meanwhile, the state government said that it has set the necessary machinery in motion to ensure the safe release of the school children but completely ruled out the payment of ransom to the kidnappers.
A statement by Ms Mary Noel Berje, chief press secretary to the Niger State governor, Mr. Abubakar Sani Bello, quoted the state deputy governor, Mr. Ahmed Mohammed Ketso as saying: “Government is on the pursuit of the bandits and efforts are being put in place to identify them.
“The number of the kidnapped school children is not fully ascertained. However, efforts by security agencies to secure their release have been intensified.
“We don’t pay ransom to abductors. We are trying to negotiate to see how we can bring them back safely.”
Describing the situation as unfortunate, the deputy governor disclosed that the Islamiyya School has three components – nursery, primary and junior secondary.
He added that the government had made contact with some of the identified parents of the kidnapped children and assured them of their (children’s) safe return.
