Abductors of students of the Greenfield University in Kaduna State, have reportedly made fresh demands for their release, while also making new threats of killing the students if the demands are not met.
The bandits who had abducted 23 students from the institution on April 20, were said to have reached out to their parents late on Monday to renegotiate the earlier N800m ransom they had demanded down to N10m per student.
Following the failure of the parents to pay N800 million, five of the students were killed within the first week of their abduction, which, according to the alleged mastermind of the attack, Sani Idris Jalingo, aka Baleri, in an interview with the Hausa service of the Voice of America (VOA), was to send a warning of their seriousness to the parents of the students and the government.
However, the bandits later changed their mind last Monday and demanded N100m and 10 motorcycles, threatening to kill the remaining students the following day if their parents or government failed to meet his demands.
Although the deadline issued by Baleri has since expired, the bandits, according to one family member who spoke to Ripples Nigeria, reached out to the parents individually and demanded that they each pay N10m.
“They called us (parents) individually on Monday evening and told me that if I pay N10 million today, my sister will be released today,” the family member who craved for anonymity said.
“I can tell you authoritatively that other parents and family members have been reached with the stern warning that if Governor El-rufai should carry out his recent threat of bombarding them, they will have to option but to kill our children,” he added
The state police command spokesman, ASP Mohammed Jalige, who could not confirm the development, however, said the police was doing everything possible to rescue the remaining students.