CBN should pay N100m Greenfield students’ ransom before it’s too late – Gumi

An Islamic cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi, on Tuesday urged Nigerian government not to take the threat by the kidnappers of students of Greenfield University, Kaduna lightly.

Gumi, who stated this in an interview with ThePUNCH, said the Central Bank of Nigeria should pay the N100m ransom being demanded by the kidnappers of the students.

He made the call as a parent of one of the abductees lamented that the kidnappers were insisting on a ransom of N100m.

The parent, who spoke to one of our correspondents in Kaduna on condition of anonymity, lamented that the bandits were still insisting on their demands and threatening to kill the students.

No fewer than 23 students and a member of staff of the university were abducted from the school on April 20, 2021.  Few days later, five of the students were killed by the bandits.

On Monday, one of the bandits, Sani Jalingo, in an interview with the Hausa service of the Voice of America, demanded   N100m and 10 motorcycles for the students to be freed.

He threatened that the failure of the Kaduna State Government or families of the students to meet the demands by Tuesday (yesterday), would lead to the killing of the abductees.

The parent, who spoke to ThePUNCH correspondent in Kaduna at 9pm on Tuesday, called on the Federal Government to do everything possible to rescue the students.

He also called on corporate organisations to assist in rescuing the students.

He said the call became imperative as the bandits stood their ground that unless their demands were met the remaining students would be killed.

He said, “The bandits still stand their ground of demanding N100m and ten motorcycles; no individual negotiation.

“We are calling on the government to do whatever it can to see to the release of our children. Our children have stayed long in the forest.

“We don’t know the state of their health at the moment. We don’t know whether they are being fed or how they are treated by the bandits.

“All that we can say now is for the government of the day, especially, the Federal Government and well-meaning Nigerians to come to our aid. We can’t afford the N100m and the motorcycles demanded by the bandits.

“We are also calling on corporate organisations to come under their corporate social responsibilities to assist us to get our children out of the bandits’ den.”