By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Islamist terrorists up North have killed 17 people in Plateau and Zamfara and abducted 50 others in Katsina and Zamfara in their latest onslaught which also involves a brazen demand for an extra N20 million ransom in Niger.
The ransom is on top of N50 million already paid by a school which raised the amount after selling part of its land to secure to the release of 136 students. The jihadists also demand six motorcycles which will cost another N3 million.
Parents lament they have exhausted all possible means to get their children freed.
Muhammadu Buhari held a meeting with security chiefs in Abuja on Thursday. Otherwise, the President is generally sleeping while Northern Nigeria burns ferociously at the hands of Almariji products impoverished by the Northern elite.
Buhari and all the security chiefs, except one, are from the North. Which adds more irony to their refusal to use resources at their disposal to tackle terrorists whom they know are trying to replicate in North the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
According to reporting by The PUNCH, six people were killed in Chando-Zrrechi, Plateau State; 11 were gunned down, and another 40, including women and children, were abducted in Dansadau in Zamfara. All the attacks took place on August 17.
In Sakkai, Katsina State, 10 students and a teacher were abducted on August 19, confirmed by police spokesman Gambo Isah.
The Nation reports that Zamfara police spokesman Muhammad Shehu had confirmed on August 16 the killing of a police inspector and two others at the College of Agriculture in Bakura.
Shehu also confirmed that 15 students and four staff members of the college were abducted.
Danjuma Dickson, Secretary General of Irigwe Development Association (IDA), said the attack in Plateau was in response to the killing of travellers on Rukuba Road.
“As the Irigwe continue to receive attacks from left right and centre over the unfortunate incidence of the Rukuba Road attack on innocent commuters which we know nothing about and have continued to distance ourselves from the ungodly act, on August 17, one of our villages, Chando-Zrrechi (Tafi-Gana) was attacked by Fulani herdsmen,” Irigwe said in a statement issued in Jos, per The Nation.
Demand for extra N20m ransom in Niger
Tanko Salihu Islamic School in Tegina, Niger State sold part of its land to raise N50 ransom in two tranches demanded by Islamist terrorists who kidnapped 136 students from the school, according to sources who spoke to The PUNCH.
Parents of the students who have spent 80 days in captivity said they have exhausted every available means to get the children released.
A source from Tegina, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The PUNCH that part of the school land was sold to raise the initial ransom
“After paying N50 million ransom in two batches, the kidnappers insisted on collecting additional N20 million and six motorcycles which will cost another N3 million. A part of the school land was sold to raise the N50 million paid,” he said.
The source lamented that informants contribute to the captivity of the children as they keep the bandits abreast of developments among parents.
His words: “The first time the [lawmaker] representing our area came on a sympathy visit to the parents, he gave us N1 million. Immediately he left, the abductors called to tell us how much he dropped.
“Also, when the Director General of the state Emergency Management Agency came, the abductors did the same thing, but we cannot identify anyone who could be doing that.”
The parents, who visit the school every day, lamented that the state government has not been discussing with them on efforts to rescue the children.
“We are tired; the government is doing nothing,” said one of them, who declined to be named.
The principal of the school, Alhassan Abubakar, told The PUNCH in a telephone interview: “The government should adopt the same method used rescuing the Commissioner for Information to free the children.
“They said they didn’t pay any ransom to rescue the commissioner and the Zone C APC [All Progressive Congress] chairman, so we want them to use the same method to secure our children’s freedom.”
Secretary to the State Government, Ahmed Matane, said the government had wanted to take military action but the parents were reluctant.
Police Commissioner Monday Kuryas, who is new on the job, said intelligence is ongoing to discover the location of the students.
“The children will be released very soon. We are doing our best to locate where they are,” he promised.
