Kidnappers of students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna State have demanded payment of N500 million as ransom.
Parents of the students disclosed this on Friday while addressing a press conference in Kaduna.
According to a report by Sahara Reporters, the spokesperson for the parents, Friday Sani, said the gunmen had established contact with the parents personally, requesting ransom amounting to N500 million.
He said: “The condition we are in today is very pathetic, and we are calling on the entire world to come to our aid. We held a protest and the Kaduna State Government called us, thinking they were going to give us hope that they will rescue our children. But they told us that anybody caught negotiating with bandits will be prosecuted.
“That also led to our second coming out to address the world through the media that it will be better for us to be arrested, even though we have already been arrested emotionally since our children’s abduction.
“We are already under the arrest of government. Some of us could not eat and sleep while some of us have developed sickness, so there is no arrest higher than this.
“We will continue to protest, no matter the number of security forces. The highest is death and we are ready to sacrifice that for our children who have promising futures,” he said.
“If we can negotiate for the release of our children and succeed and then being arrested afterwards, we will be the happiest people. It is better for us to be in government’s detention rather than allow our children to die.
