SALIU SALIU
KIDNAPPED students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Kaduna, have pleaded with the Kaduna State Government and the Federal Government not to attempt rescuing them, using force.
The victims who spoke in separate videos that surfaced on the Internet on Saturday, said their captors could kill them if the Government deployed security forces to rescue them.
In one of the videos, which have gone viral, one of the victims, Benson Emmanuel, was heard saying that gunmen surrounded them in their location and had threatened that none of them would go out alive if the security agents should attempt to rescue them by force.
Emmanuel also appealed to the Federal Government to settle the matter early, saying “they have bad mind against us”.
He was seen sitting on the ground with the other victims, male and female.
He also noted that some of them were facing health challenges, while another female captive corroborated what he said in Hausa.
The abductors were seen in military uniforms but with concealed faces, while the captives were visibly terrified.
In one of the videos, the kidnapped students were seen crying and pleading while some captors flogged and pointed guns at them.
The Kaduna State Government had confirmed that about 30 students were abducted from the college.
The Commissioner for Internal Security, Samuel Aruwan, who disclosed this to journalists on Friday morning at the College gate, however, noted that troops of the Nigerian Army rescued 180 people, many of them students.
He said the bandits, in their numbers, stormed the college, located opposite Premier Military University, Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, around 11.30pm on Thursday.
Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu, had said in a statement that the President commended the efforts of the Kaduna State Government and the early response of the military, which led to the rescue of 180 students and eight members of staff.
“Our military may be efficient and well-armed but it needs good efforts for the nation’s defence and the local population must rise to this challenge of the moment,” he said.
Buhari expressed sympathy with the victims of this incident and hoped for an early end to the ordeal of those still held captive.
