The nine students of the French Department of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) have been released by their kidnappers, Chief Security Officer of the institution, Ashiru Zango, confirmed to news Sunday Morning.
“Yes, they have been released but I’m waiting to get the full details from their HOD who is in charge of the negotiations,” he said.
Zango did not, however, state if any ransom was paid to secure their release.
The students were kidnapped while travelling to Lagos for an academic programme. Their abductors demanded N270 million as ransom.
According to reports, Dickson Oko, one of the students who managed to escape when the incident happened on the Abuja-Kaduna expressway, said the kidnappers demanded N30 million on each of them.
Oko had managed to escape together with the driver of the bus into the bush but unfortunately sustained gunshot injuries.
The driver, Nurudeen Mohammed, who narrated his ordeal said he was conveying the students to the French Village in Lagos for their Language immersion programme.
He said they were trapped at the Akilubu-Gidan Busa axis of the highway when the bandits blocked the two lanes and opened fire on them.
While the ABU management confirmed that eight of the students were kidnapped, the driver insisted that they were nine because he was conveying 12 students and three managed to escape with him.
The Abuja-Kaduna highway has been a soft spot for kidnappers who have terrorized travellers for over three years.
