Parents of kidnapped Kogi varsity students raise alarm over N10m demand

The parents of two students of Kogi State University, Kabba reportedly abducted last week by gunmen along Okene -Kabba road have raised alarm over the safety of their wards as their abductors threatened to kill them without the payment of N10m ransom placed on them.

It was gathered that Isaac Babalola and Joel Emmanuel Bamiyo, both students of the Public Administration Department of the institution were kidnapped at the same spot where the caretaker committee chairman of  Kabba Bunu LGA was abducted last week.

City & Crime learnt  that their abductors initially demanded N50m, but reduced it to N10m due to the pleading by the parents of the kidnap victims.

According to one of the fathers of the students, Shadrach Idowu Babalola,  their abductors have been consistently calling and demanding to pay up the ransom immediately or forget their wards.

• Kaduna government distributes Free 15,000 Tones of Fertilizer to 120,000 Small Holder Farmers
• Tinubu commissions CNG buses, swears in HoS

“Anytime they (kidnappers) called and ask for N50m, and we tell them we don’t have such amount, they tell us we are not serious about the lives of our wards.

“The last time they called, and we told them what we can afford, they told us point blank to take the money and buy Maggi to make soup for ourselves,” he said.

Also,  the father of Joel Emmanuel Bamiyo, said the abductors have reduced their demand from N50m to N5m each for the abducted two students.

He added that their abductors emphasised greatly the payment of N10m ransom or risk the lives of the children in their hands.

Both parents appealed to the state government and security agents to intervene in order to secure the release of their children, stressing that the families are worried since the incident.

The Kogi Police Command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Williams Aya, said that the command was not aware of their kidnap.

He claimed that the parents of the students, including the institution did not report to the police authorities or security operatives to enable the command to take action since the incident.

All efforts made to speak to the authorities of the institution were not successful, due to poor network as at the time of filing this report.