Kidnapped UNIZIK Student Regains Freedom After Payment Of Ransom

The abducted student of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Francisca Chioma, has been released by her kidnappers.

Recall that Chioma, a student of the Science Education Department in the institution, went missing on Friday, April 5, after she left Awka to attend a friend’s father’s burial in a community in Anambra State.

According to the report, the kidnappers had asked for N10m but later reduced it to N2m, prompting her friends and schoolmates to seek help from Nigerians to raise the money.

The institution’s Chief Security Officer, Ken Chukwurah who confirmed her release and stated that she was set free after the payment of an undisclosed amount of money to her abductors on Wednesday.

“Yes, she has been released. The debriefing we got from her was that she and her friend were not their target. They were just unfortunate to be around the area when the kidnapping operation was going on and they fell into their hands.

“The kidnappers were targeting to abduct one academic doctor and a member of the same family they were going to pay a condolence visit to. They heard that the man was coming in a public transport and they laid ambush.

“She confirmed that the kidnappers later abducted the academic doctor, who was their target and from their interactions, the assailants came from outside the state. She said the kidnappers made them trek a long distance in the bush and crossed them to Nsukka in Enugu State.

“When the incident was happening, we were interacting with security agencies because we initially thought it was not true, but the security agencies sent us a coordinate where they tracked them to somewhere in Enugu State.

“They said the man who was their target was eventually asked to pay N20m, but negotiations were still going on between the man and the kidnappers before they were eventually released” he said.

He noted that from his interactions with Chioma, her family members and friends raised some amount of money and paid to the kidnappers who eventually released her.