Anambra State Commissioner for Youth Development, Patrick Mba, and his wife have been released by their captors after spending a day in captivity, according to reports.
A source confirmed that they were released on Saturday, August 17, 2024, adding that the Commissioner and his wife regained their freedom earlier in the day.
“The kidnapped Commissioner of Youth Development and his wife have been released today (Saturday). To God be the glory. The State government will soon issue a statement on that,” the source added. The Commissioner and wife were travelling in commercial SUV to Abuja to attend the wedding of Governor Charles Soludo’s daughter when they were attacked. One of the Commissioner’s aides was killed on the spot. The wedding was held last Saturday.
Meanwhile, the kidnappers of the 20 medical students of Universities of Jos and Maiduguri have demanded a ransom of N50 million, threatening to start killing them by instalments by today Sunday if they did not get the money on Saturday, 17 August, 2024.
The kidnappers also granted their victims access to their phones to enable them to interact with those who could help them raise the ransom.
These students were heading to the annual convention of the Federation of Catholic Medical and Dental Students (FECAMDS) in Enugu State on Thursday when kidnappers cornered them.
FIJ contacted Samuel Oche, the president of the Benue Medical Student Association, who confirmed that he spoke with one of the kidnapped students on Friday.
“As of yesterday, we still had access to them. We tried to know if we could still contact them, and one of them, Boniface, confirmed to me on call that the kidnappers were asking for N50 million collectively,” Oche told FIJ on Saturday
FIJ also spotted activity on the X account of Kingsley Aondona, one of the abducted medical students, on Friday.
“We were kidnapped on our way to Enugu for a convention,” he tweeted. “They are requesting N50 million for 20 of us medical students. Please, help us and we haven’t eaten for two days. They said they would start killing us tomorrow.”
As is the case in many situations of abductions, families of the abducted mostly rely on public contributions to pay the ransom. When asked how much had been raised to pay the kidnappers, he said: “To be honest, I have no idea if the contributions have started or not. I think this should be a national security concern, not individuals trying to contribute money.
“What I was thinking was that if we got the government to know about this, there should be a way to retrieve these people without having to pay a dime. How long are we going to continue to pay money?”
He also told FIJ that some of the victims were sharing live locations.
“Some of the abductees were chatting with us right from in there. These are some of the hints that we have that are supposed to enable security agencies to make use of to track these people and get them out for us rather than donating money.”
The students were ambushed and taken by gunmen around 5:30 pm in the Otukpo area of Benue State.
@Nigerian_Doctor, an X account dedicated to posting issues in the medical field told FIJ that the kidnappers had also made calls and asked for the N50 million ransom.
“I’m told the families want to keep things quiet now. So, we are all backing off,” he said on Friday.
Sources: The PUNCH & FIJ