The abductors of a National Diploma (ND) II student of the Science Laboratory Technology Department of the Nasarawa State-owned Isa Mustapha Agwai Polytechnic, Lafia, Miss Taye Ajoke, have demanded for N500,000 as her ransom payment instead of the N50m they earlier requested for her release.
Heavily armed men had on Monday night attacked Ombi 1, a residential area for students, which is two kilometers away from the polytechnic, and whisked the student to an unknown destination after shooting sporadically for about an hour.
The incident left two other students and an admission seeker with bullet wounds, while the police later rushed them (injured students) to a government hospital for treatment.
Those attacked by the bandits are an HND I student of Public Administration, Freedom Luka; an HND II student of Business Administration and Management, Ogwuche Janet; and a male seeking admission into the polytechnic, Danladi Nicholas.
Speaking in Lafia on Wednesday, the President of the Students Union Government of the polytechnic, Ekom Ayaka, said Ajoke’s kidnappers had called to demand the immediate payment of N500,000.
Ajoke’s kidnappers, according to the SUG president, warned that they would kill the student if the money was not sent to them in the shortest possible time.
He said, “The person holding Ajoke’s phone at her hostel got a call from the kidnappers today (Wednesday) around 8am. They are now demanding N500,000 instead of the N50m that they requested yesterday (Tuesday).
“The issue is that the money is not available to pay them because we are all students and most of us are not financially stable.
“Her family members and well-wishers were later able to raise the sum of N300,000, but when we called the kidnappers around 10am, they refused to collect the money, insisting that we must pay the amount they are demanding as soon as possible or she will be killed in that place where they kept her.
“We have now raised a total of N300,000. While we are hoping that they will accept the money, we are still looking for the balance to ensure that she is released from the kidnappers’ den.
“We are appealing to the school management, the state government and every good citizen of the country to help us so that we can rescue her from captivity.”
However, efforts made to get a reaction from the Nasarawa State Police Command proved abortive as the Public Relations Officer of the command, DSP Ramhan Nansel, did not respond to phone calls put across to his mobile line as of the time of filing this report.
