After 26 Days In Bandits Den, Five Abducted Kaduna Students Regain Freedom

… 34 Still Held Hostage

The Kaduna State Government has confirmed the release of five abducted students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Mando in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

The State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, announced this on Monday.

Bandits had in their large numbers on March 11, 2021, invaded the school located opposite the Nigerian Defence Academy along the Kaduna International Airport road and abducted them.

Some of the students were seen in their nightwear in a viral video released by the bandits on Saturday.

The 39 students had spent 26 days in the bandits’ den.

Aruwan said the five students are currently undergoing medical check-up at an undisclosed military facility in the state.

The statement reads in part, “The Nigerian military has informed the Kaduna State Government that five of the many kidnapped students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, Kaduna were recovered this afternoon and are presently in a military facility where they are undergoing a thorough medical check-up.

The Kaduna State Government will provide updates on further operational feedback to be received on this case.

The release of the five students is coming barely 25 hours after former president Olusegun Obasanjo and Ahmad Gumi, prominent Islamic cleric, met and asked the federal government to rehabilitate bandits who are willing to surrender.

The meeting followed the recent attacks across the country by suspected bandits.

“Wean those who are ready to be weaned out of the bushes and crime, settle and rehabilitate them, give them skills, empower them and let them have employment,” Obasanjo and Gumi said in a joint statement issued after the meeting.

It added, “Since the end of the civil war, the military are the strongest and most potent instrument and symbol of national unity that we have and we must keep them so.

“State governments must have adequate means of providing security for their people and as chief executives and chief security officers of their states, they must have the means at their disposal to ensure security for all within their states.”