Kankara abduction: No ransom paid, military insists

The Defence Headquarters, on Thursday, explained that Nigerian troops used unarmed combat to disarm the ‘enemies’ silently during the operation to rescue the abducted students of the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State, insisting that no ransom was paid.

This is as a report by Wall Street Journal quoted by SaharaReporters, an online news platform, said the ransom was paid in three tranches before the victims of bandits were rescued.

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The report quoted three of the boys, who said their kidnappers told them they initially paid N30million, equivalent to around $76,000, but decided not to release them because they had demanded N344million – 1 per head.

“They threatened to release only 30 of us when the N30million initial ransom was paid. They even took 30 of us away on motorcycles ready to release,” the report quoted one 16-year-old Yinusa Idris as saying.

But addressing journalists at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja, the Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. John Enenche maintained that no ransom was paid.

He said the rescue of the 344 schoolboys by the military was achieved by the use of unarmed combat tactics and display of high professionalism.

“The reason behind the successful rescue of kidnapped Kankara Schoolboys is professionalism. We used unarmed combat training which we all got.  We were trained to survive hard conditions. Military personnel should be able to disarm the enemies silently,” Enenche said.