Greenfield University Abduction: 14 Students Regain Freedom
Fourteen abducted students of Greenfield University in Kaduna State have been released, multiple media reports said on Saturday.
Channels Television reports that the students were released on Saturday afternoon at a location along the Kaduna- Abuja highway.
The chairman of the Parents Forum, Markus Zarmai, and few others were expected to receive the students at the drop-off location, the TV station reported.
Kaduna State Government and police authorities are yet to confirm the development.
However, parents of the abducted students said that they paid a ransom, in addition to providing eight new motorcycles to the kidnappers before they agreed to release their children. The parents did not say how much they paid.
Twenty-two undergraduates were seized from their campus almost two weeks ago by gunmen in April. Five of them have since been killed by the captors.
In an interview with the VOA Hausa, the leader of the team, Sani Idris Jalingo (also known as Baleri), handed down the threat to kill the remaining students by Tuesday if they refused to pay the ransom.
Kaduna State and the Nigerian Government had discouraged parents of the abducted students from paying ransom to kidnappers.
Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari in May appealed for “the release of the students of the Greenfield University.”
