Parents reportedly pay N10m to kidnappers for children's release

fuad lawal

June 11, 2017 1:50 PM

The ransom was reduced from N400m to N10m by the kidnappers.

A parent of one of the kidnapped students of Lagos Model College Igbonla, protesting at Alausa

Reports coming in say that the parents of the six kidnapped students have paid a N10m ransom to the kidnappers.

The leader of the kidnap gang, America and some of his co-criminals, are believed to have met at a rendezvous with the kidnappers at around 8pm on Thursday 8th of June.

According to Vanguard, the parents hope the students will be released any time soon.

The six students of Model College Igbonla were kidnapped from their hostels early on Thursday 25th of May, 2017. At first, the kidnappers made a demand for up to N400m. When it was clear the parents couldn't afford to raise the money, they reduced it to N100 million. Eventually, the kidnappers reduced the ransom to N10m.

The government on the other hand, has insisted on not negotiating the ransom with the kidnappers. They insist that security forces are capable of rescuing the students.

READ:The full story of how the kidnappers struck

The students were abducted on May 25 2017 from their school and when the kidnappers established contact with the parents, a ransom of N400m was demanded but this was later reduced to N100m owing to the inability of the parents to meet up with the demand. The kidnappers were said to have advised the parents to reach out to others and deliberate on how to raise the N100m as well as mounting pressure on the state government to raise the money for them.

Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, said that eight suspects have now been arrested in connection with the kidnapping.

He said at a press briefing on Thursday:

"When conducting operations such as this, the safety of the children is very important and we are concentrating all our efforts on protecting the lives of those children.

"The creeks surrounding Epe and Ikorodu are always connected with kidnapping. We are going to have a permanent solution to the security in those areas but we and the state government have to advise school owners on where to site schools."

At the time of compiling this report, there has been no official statement from the Lagos State government on the matter.

fuad lawal