KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) – A video of some abducted students at a college in northwestern Nigeria appeared on Saturday, showing them huddled on the forest floor as gunmen beat them to death.
Thirty-nine students are missing after gunmen stormed the Federal Forest Mechanization College in Kaduna State on Thursday night, the fourth school kidnapping in northern Nigeria in December.
Video images shared on social networks showed about two dozen students asking for help in English and Hausa. One says the kidnappers want a ransom of 500 million naira ($ 1.31 million).
“If someone comes to save them without the money, they will kill us,” a male student says in the video, while a man with a gun stands behind him.
The provost of Bello College Mohammed Usman and the mother of a kidnapped student identified on Saturday those shown in the video as some of the abducted students, including a pregnant woman. Usman declined to comment on the ransom.
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 ransom.
Earlier on Saturday, Kaduna State Security Commissioner Samuel Aruwan said nine students were missing than previously thought – 23 women and 16 men.
“The Kaduna state government maintains close communication with the college leadership as efforts are supported by security agencies to track down missing students,” Aruwan said.
The armed gang entered the school, located on the outskirts of Kaduna, near a military academy, around 23:30 (22:30 GMT) on Thursday. Aruwan said another 180 students and staff members at the school were rescued early Friday.
Attacks by gangs of armed men, known as bandits, have intensified in recent years, and military and police attempts to approach the gangs have been unsuccessful. Many fear that the state authorities will worsen the situation, leaving the kidnappers unpunished, paying them or offering incentives.
In a statement on Saturday, President Muhammadu Buhari called for missing students to be found and returned to their families safely.
Gloria Paul said she recognized her 20-year-old daughter, Joy Kurmi Paul, in the video, wearing a pink scarf. On Saturday, outside the school, my mother called for help.
“Please, the government should help us release them without hurting them,” she said as tears rolled down her cheeks.
($ 1 = $ 380,500)
Reporting by Garba Muhammad, additional reporting by Maiduguri and Felix Onuah in Abuja. Written by Libby George, edited by Alexandra Hudson, Rosalind Russell and Clelia Oziel