Kaduna Abduction: Students Still In Captivity To Regain Freedom Soon, Says El-Rufai

The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has said that the state government will soon secure the freedom of the abducted students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka in the Igabi Local Government Area.

He stated this on Wednesday while receiving five of the 39 students abducted by bandits who invaded the school on March 11.

The students were reunited with their parents after the troops rescued them on Monday.

Immediately after their release, they were taken to a military hospital for treatment and were freed to go home with their parents.

El-Rufai, who was represented by the Commissioner for internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, assured that the remaining students and others still in captivity will be rescued in no distant time.

Earlier, El-Rufai featured on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics where he warned that anyone caught negotiating with bandits on behalf of the state government would be prosecuted.

He also reiterated the warning on April 4, noting that the government has not appointed an intermediary to negotiate with bandits on its behalf.

But the parents, in their reaction, vowed to do everything possible to get their children out of captivity, including negotiating with the bandits no matter the consequences.

The assailants stormed the school very early in the morning with the intention to abduct many students in what can be described as a silent attack.

Their operation was, however, thwarted by soldiers who promptly responded to a distress call and engaged the bandits in a fierce gunfight.