One abducted Greenfield University student freed

According to Voice of America (VOA), one of the remaining 17 abducted students of Nigeria’s Greenfield University, Aaron Attahiru, was released on Tuesday 4 May after his parents negotiated with the kidnappers and paid a ransom. It follows the abduction almost two weeks ago of 22 undergraduates from their campus. Five of them have since been killed by their captors, writes Abisola Olasupo for The Guardian Nigeria.

The released student’s mother Lauretta Attahiru, who confirmed the development to journalists on Tuesday 4 May, did not elaborate on the release of her son.

In an interview with the VOA Hausa, the leader of the abductors, Sani Idris Jalingo (also known as Baleri), issued the threat to kill the remaining students by Tuesday if they refused to pay the ransom. He explained that affected parents had paid NGN55 million (US$144,500) which they allegedly used in feeding the captives. He said the group had eliminated the five students to show their seriousness and that the government’s failure to pay the NGN100 million ransom might lead to the death of the remaining students.
Full report on The Guardian Nigeria site

Meanwhile, Aljazeera reports that another group of kidnappers has released the remaining 29 students they were holding captive, nearly two months after abducting them from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Nigeria’s Kaduna state. Gunmen had taken 39 students from the college on 11 March and previously released 10 of them. The newly released students arrived at police headquarters in Kaduna city on the night of 5 May looking weak, forlorn and wearing dirty, torn clothes. More than 700 people have been abducted from schools in northwest Nigeria since December in a rash of kidnappings for ransom in the volatile region.
Full report on the Aljazeera site

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Daily Post reports that President Muhammadu Buhari is working with the military and intelligence agencies to rescue the abducted students from Greenfield University, Kaduna state. A statement on the presidency’s Twitter page on Tuesday 4 May said it will ensure that good triumphs over evil, and that all of the bandits and criminals terrorising innocent lives and communities are brought to book. It called on all Nigerians to unite, regardless of religion or ethnicity against the enemy.
Full report on the Daily Post site