KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) – A video of some of the students abducted from a school in northwestern Nigeria on Saturday showed them hiding in the forest floor while armed captors beat them with sticks.
Thirty-nine students are missing after gunmen stormed the Kaduna State Federal College of Forest Mechanization on Thursday night, the fourth school kidnapping in northern Nigeria since December.
Video images shared on social media showed about two dozen students asking for help in English and Hausa. One says the kidnappers want a 500 million naire ($ 1.31 million) ransom.
“If someone comes to rescue them without the money, they will kill us,” a male student says in the video while there is a man with a gun behind him.
University provost Bello Mohammed Usman and the mother of a student abducted on Saturday identified those shown in the video as some of the abducted students, including a pregnant woman. Usman declined to comment on the ransom request.
Abubakar Sadiq, executive secretary of the Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency, said he was unaware of the video and had no authority to comment on the rescue request.
Earlier on Saturday, Kaduna State Security Commissioner Samuel Aruwan said nine more students were missing than expected: 23 women and 16 men.
“The Kaduna state government maintains close communication with the school management as security agencies maintain efforts to track down missing students,” Aruwan said.
The armed gang broke into the school, located on the outskirts of Kaduna town, near a military academy, around 11:30 pm (10:30 pm GMT) on Thursday. Aruwan said 180 students and staff members who remained at the school were rescued early Friday.
Attacks by armed gangs, known as bandits, have intensified over several years and military and police attempts to attack the gangs have been unsuccessful. Many worry that state authorities will worsen the situation by letting kidnappers go unpunished, paying them or providing incentives.
On Saturday, in a statement, President Muhammadu Buhari urged to find the missing students and return them safely to their families.
Gloria Paul said she recognized her 20-year-old daughter, Joy Kurmi Paul, in the video, who was wearing a pink handkerchief. On Saturday, outside of school, the mother called for help.
“Please the government should help us release them without hurting them,” he said as tears ran down his cheeks.
($ 1 = 380,5500 naira)
Reports from Garba Muhammad, additional reports from the Maiduguri and Felix Onuah editorial office in Abuja. Written by Libby George, edited by Alexandra Hudson, Rosalind Russell and Clelia Oziel