I can’t resume lectures for now, says kidnapped varsity student

Hauwa Abubakar Kana, the Veterinary Medicine student of Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, (UDUS), who was released recently from kidnappers’ den, on Monday said she cannot return to school now as she’s too traumatize to concentrate on lectures.

“I have been traumatized from the gun shots, the trekking, lack of good water, food, sleep deprivation and uncertainty for four days in the hands of armed kidnappers before I and 45 others regained our freedom,” she told Daily Trust.

It would be recalled that Hauwa, who hails from Nasarawa local government area of Nasarawa state, was among the 46 kidnapped victims who were released after ransoms were paid by their families.

It would be recalled that Hauwa, who was freed last Thursday (January 23), was kidnapped around 3pm on Saturday, January 18 this year, along Mararaba – Edege road on her way back to Nasarawa.

Also, the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of N10million for her release but later reduced it to N5 million, it was gathered.

According to her, even though she was freed and now at home, she claimed she’s still not thinking ‘normal’ as she often recalls all that happened during her travail with her abductors.

“When the kidnappers blocked the road and fired three shots from their AK47 rifles into air, I thought that they were just armed robbers who were after our goods and money, but when they echoed that we have been kidnapped, it dawned on me that I and the other 48 victims were in real trouble,” Hauwa narrated to our correspondent in Nasarawa.

She further claimed that her experience from a five-hour endurance trekking exercise, which she was exposed to back in her secondary school days, saved her.

This, according to her, enabled her to be composed, even when her abductors were seeking for ransom from her family, adding that she regained her freedom after her family paid.

She, however, said that when she stabilized, she will inform her school officially before she resumes for lectures.