Two students who were kidnapped from a university in Northern Nigeria last Tuesday have been killed, making it a total of five Greenfield University students killed by their abductors, an official said in a statement released Monday.
Two university staff told AFP news agency that 20 students along with three non-academic staff were kidnapped but state officials could not confirm those numbers.
This follows the attack on the private university on the 20th of April when one staff member and three students were killed. This is the fifth reported attack on a school or college since December 2020.
Schools are soft targets. They target school children as well as women because the incentives behind securing their release are much higher. Also, men are always considered to be in much more position to possess the finances to secure the release of their wives and children.
Ikemesit Effiong, head of research at SB Morgen (SBM) Intelligence, a Lagos-based political risk analysis firm, told Al Jazeera.
There’s been a growing increase in the mass kidnappings across northern Nigeria carried out by criminal gangs known locally as “bandits.” It is estimated that there have been over 800 kidnappings. These bandits are a financially motivated offshoot of a booming kidnapping enterprise in Nigeria
According to CNN, Kaduna’s State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has been unwavering in his stance against negotiating with the kidnappers. Aruwan added in the statement that “the Government of Kaduna State under the leadership of Malam Nasir El-Rufai is saddened by this evil perpetrated against innocent students abducted while pursuing their education for a glorious future.”
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday described the recurring incidents of kidnappings and killings in Kaduna State as “barbaric terror attacks.”
The Nigerian government has taken the pedal off handling important issues including security, turning the country into a more dangerous place daily. Terror groups have cost Nigeria over 100 million dollars paid by private individuals, or the government–who deny ever paying ransoms.
