…reject N11m contributed by community
Angered by the seeming inaction on their demand of N110 million ransom for the release of the abducted 156 pupils of kidnapped from Salihu Tanko Islamiyya School in Tegina, Niger State, the abductors have hiked their demand to N200 million, upping the ransom by a whopping N90 million.
Reports have it that the bandits also rejected the N11 million raised by the community, insisting on being paid N200 million before the pupils are released.
Already, two parents of the abductees have reportedly died of heart attack.A
Another parent, Malam Ali Mohammed, said the gunmen threatened to kill the children if the ransom demanded was not paid.
Mohammed, who is a tipper driver, has five children among the abductees.
He said the parents are poor people and cannot afford to raise N200 million.
He asked the government to come to their rescue.
“We are poor people; we don’t have such money,” he told reporters on Thursday night.
He pleaded with the government to “come to our aid.”
The head teacher of the school, Abubakar Alhassan, yesterday confirmed that the gunmen had raised the ransom from N110 million to N200 million.
“They say I should not even talk about N110 million again but N200 million,” Alhassan said on Arise TV.
He added: “I was begging them, but they didn’t listen. They cut the phone and I haven’t heard from them again.”
His child is also among the abductees.
Alhassan also said two parents of the abducted children have died of heart attack since the Sunday abduction.
He said: “All eyes are on me as the head teacher. I have witnessed the funeral prayer of one of the parents, very close to the school. She died. She had one child in the school.
“She was not around when the incident happened. When she came back, they told her that this was what happened, and within 10 to 30 minutes, she fainted and that was the end of her. That was the day before yesterday (Wednesday).
“One day after the incident happened, another parent, a woman, died, because she had two children and sent one to town. When she heard about the abduction, she died from heart attack.
“Are we not Nigerians that the government cannot intervene in this issue?
“No sympathy at all. None of the government officials extends sympathy to us. Are we animals? No, we are Nigerians,” he said amidst tears.
A mother, Hadiya Hashim, said she could not imagine the terrible condition the children would be now.
Her words: “The situation these children are in, you can’t imagine.
“You know they don’t have houses in the bush. Initially, the scanty report we received on Monday said they kept the children under a big tree and they starved them for three days without giving them any water.”
Another parent, who spoke anonymously, said relatives, friends and sympathisers contributed N11 million which they wanted to pay the bandits to release the children.
He said the gunmen rejected the money and declared that they no longer wanted the N110 million they demanded initially but N200 million.
Another parent, Tanko Zagi, accused the government of being insensitive to the plight of the children and their parents, saying: “Since that day up till now, we have not seen anything from the state government.
“The local government chairman has been up and doing so that these children can be rescued. But the state government, we don’t know. No official of the government has come to condole with us.”
Government officials have refused to speak on the issue.
None has also visited the community to sympathise with the parents, sources said.
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