Govt has left us to our fate, parents of abducted Kebbi schoolgirls cry out

Some parents of the abducted students of Federal Government College, Birnin Yauri in Kebbi State say the government has left them to their fate, lamenting that not effort is being made to free their children.

One of the parents, Niyanthara Daniel, said that government did not call them or give them any information about the incident,l adding that they were more worried as the abductors had stopped communicating with them.

The victims were abducted in June 2021, with 11 of them yet to be released by bandits.

In an interview with BBC, Niyanthara said that she could sell the family’s house to save her daughter.

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She said, “I honestly don’t have anything, except for the family house we are in. If it takes to sell our house, we will sell it.”

She added that they will seek the help of family members and the local community.

“We have waited for government, we didn’t hear from them. Our children were taken away in Kebbi state, the governor has never called us to speak to us so that at least we can feel relief,” she said.

Another parent said the bandits had cut off communication between them and their children, unlike the way they used to talk to them almost all the time.

She said the bandits informed them that they had blocked any chance of hearing from the students until ransom is paid.

Salim Ka’oje, the leader of the parents, explained that the bandit leader contacted him on the phone, where he explained to him that if they failed to give him what he asked for, then “your children will be killed.”

He added that in the past, the bandit leader didn’t talk to them as parents.

“Now, he agreed to talk with us and he has come to the conclusion of what he needs to be done for him, and I believe that those who are communicating with government on the issue must have told them our cries, but still we didn’t hear anything from government,” he said.