Bandits who abducted Niger schoolchildren raise ransom from N110m to N200m

By our reporter| Bandits who kidnapped 156 Islamiyya students in Niger state have increased the ransom demand to N200 million for their release.

The bandits who on May 27 abducted pupils Salihu from Tanko Islamiyya school in Tegina town, Rafi LGA of Niger State, had earlier demanded N110 million ransom for the kidnapped pupils.

The school head-teacher and a parent of two of the abducted children Abubakar Alhassan, made the disclosure on Friday in an interview on Arise TV.

He said, “They say I should not even talk about N110 million again but N200 million.”

“I was begging them but they didn’t listen. They cut the phone and I haven’t heard from them.”

Hadiya Hashim, another parent of three abducted pupils, who lamented the terrible situation of the pupils, said the children were starved for three days and deprived of water.

“The situation these children are in, you can’t imagine. You know they don’t have houses in the bush. Initially, the scanty report we received, on Monday, said they kept the children under a big tree and they starved them for three days without giving them any water,” she said.

The aggrieved parents also said the state government has not done much for the affected children since the abduction.

“Since that day up till now, we have not seen anything from the state government. But the local government chairman has been up and doing so that these children can be rescued. But the state government, we don’t know. No official of the government has come to condole with us,” Tanko Zagi one of the parents said.