The killing of three students of Greenfield University, Kaduna State have left the parents of the abducted students devasted after the report on Friday.
Naija News had earlier reported that gunmen on Tuesday, abducted 23 students of the university on Tuesday night, killing a staff member during the attack.
The bandits hours later reached out to parents of the abducted students demanding a ransom of N800m for the students’ release.
However, the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs in the state, Samuel Aruwan, on Friday, announced the killing of three of the students by the bandits.
Aruwan in the statement noted that the bodies of the students were found close to the university on Friday.
The murdered students were two females and a male.
Aruwan said, “In an act of mindless evil and sheer wickedness, the bandits who kidnapped students of Greenfield University have shot dead three of the abducted students.”
“The remains of three students were found today (Friday) in Kwanan Bature village, a location close to the university, and have been evacuated to a mortuary by the Commissioner, Internal Security and Home Affairs (Aruwan), and the Force Commander, Operation Thunder Strike, Lt Col MH Abdullahi.”
Aruwan said the state Governor Nasir El-Rufai mourned and condemned the students’ killing and described it as “sheer wickedness, inhumanity, and an outright desecration of human lives by vile entities.”
Some parents of the abducted students have expressed fear over the fate of the remaining students.
The parents said the bandits were insisting on collecting N800m ransom before releasing the remaining students.
One of the parents, who spoke to Punch on condition of anonymity, said they met with the management of Greenfield University on Thursday and agreed on “collective bargaining.”
“We met on Thursday with the school authorities. We agreed on collective bargaining. We don’t know what went wrong. The bandits are still insisting on the N800m ransom that they earlier demanded,” the parent said.
Another parent said the bandits insisted on collecting the full ransom, adding that the failure to pay it must have led to the killing of the three students.
“It’s unfortunate that the state is still insisting on not having anything to do with the negotiations even when lives are involved,” the parent said, adding that the bandits had vowed to kill the remaining students should the parents fail to pay the ransom or attempt to use force to free the students.