* Parents of 29 abducted Kaduna school threaten more protests
John Shiklam in Kaduna and Seriki Adinoyi in Jos
The Plateau State Police Command yesterday confirmed the abduction of a student pastor at the King’s School, run by the Calvary International Ministry, also known as CAPRO, in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of the state.
Also, after fruitless efforts to secure the release of the 29 remaining abducted students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Kaduna, the parents of the abductees have threatened to take their protest to the National Assembly.
The Plateau school is a few kilometres from the Yakubu Gowon Airport, Heipang in the same local government area.
It was learnt that the bandits invaded the school to kidnap many students, but the timely intervention of security agents forced them to withdraw, leaving with four students. But three of the abducted students later escaped during a gun battle between the security personnel and the abductors.
The school was reportedly attacked in the early hours of yesterday when the armed men gained entry through the rear side of the fence.
A witness said some of the students noticed strange movements and alerted security agents, who repelled the attackers.
He said three of the students escaped during a gun duel between the security agents and the abductors.
Confirming the attack, a global mission leader and President of Parra-Mallam Peace Foundation, Reverend Gideon Para-Mallam, said the attackers broke into the compound by drilling the school fence from the rear side.
The state police spokesman, Mr. Gabriel Uba, an assistant superintendent of police, said: “The command received a report of abduction of a student pastor from King’s School, Gana Ropp in Barkin Ladi LGA. Tactical operatives have been deployed in the area. Concerted efforts are on towards rescuing the victim and arresting the perpetrators.”
Meanwhile, the parents of the 29 abducted Kaduna students have threatened to take their protest to the National Assembly.
In a statement yesterday in Kaduna, the parents accused the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) of allegedly not doing anything to ensure the release of their children.
The statement, jointly signed by Usman Abdullahi and
Catherine Y. Saleh, Chairman and Secretary, respectively of the parents’ association, stated that if the FRIN failed to ensure the release of the students by today, they would be left with no option than to take their protest to the National Assembly.
On March 11, 2021, bandits invaded the school and abducted 39 students.
Ten of the abducted students were later released in two batches of five. The remaining 29 are still being held by the bandits.
The statement said the parents were depressed about the continuous holding of their children in captivity and the inhuman treatment being meted out to them.
On Tuesday a new video where the students were seen begging their parents to pay the bandits ransom for them to be released went viral on the social media.
The statement said the parents “rose from their meeting on Monday, April 26, giving the FRIN 72 hours, which expires in the midnight of Thursday, April 29 within which to secure the release of the abductees.”
