Afaka 27: Bruised, battered, beaten

Their picture cut a crushed mien; a missing humanity; they were brutishly beaten-up. Their gaze was morbid, with no presence of mind. 

Shock, numbness, anxiety, depression and a sense of helplessness marked the climate of their reality. They were students who had spent 55 days in the hands of their captors. 

They were abducted from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State on March 11, 2021. Against earlier stories which made the round that 39 students were abducted, it was gathered that 38 students had been abducted before one escaped a day after while the bandits later released 10 of the victims on April 5 and 8 after about N17 million was paid. 

The students were received around Kidandan in Giwa Local Government Area of the state after a ransom of about N15 million was paid to the bandits and a convict was released. It was also gathered that the release of the students was delayed even after payment of ransom last month because the bandits insisted on the release of one of their own arrested by the police. 

The identified bandit, whose name was given simply as Laulu, was reportedly moved to Kaduna from a police facility in Kano on Tuesday ahead of the prisoner swap. 

Sadly, the negotiations were reported to have suffered setbacks after the abductor, known as Buderu, reneged on his promise even after payment of the agreed sum. 

However, father of one Buhari, alias General, who is also a bandit had to be brought in to use his son in forcing Baderu to agree on the deal. 

But Buderu, it was gathered, had insisted that even if no more money would be given to him, a relative of his arrested at Falgore Forest in Kano State must be released. 

The students were released on Wednesday to intermediaries who served as a go-between between negotiators and the group, which masterminded the kidnapping on March 11, 2021. 

After their release on Wednesday, they looked despondent, desperate and critically in need of care. 

One female student reportedly could not walk alone and was carried into the building, while another was rushed to the hospital. 

Journalists were disallowed from speaking to the students. 

 

In their captors’ den 

The world caught glimpses of the tortuous journey of the abducted students after videos were released intermittently by the kidnappers. A few days after their abduction, a video surfaced online on Saturday, March 13, 2021, where the students were seen sitting on the floor in an unknown location, guarded by armed men whose identities were concealed. In the video, the students appeared hopeless, hungry, tearful and afraid. 

The video had gone viral and elicited a wide range of emotions on the social media. The students had emaciated; they had no shelter over their head. They were at the mercy of their kidnappers. The video clip showed it was daytime; there was nothing delightful in the clip. It reeked of horror; it resonated of a lost humanity. In the clip, the victims appealed to the government to pay the ransom demanded by the bandits so that they would be freed. They appealed against the deployment of security operatives to rescue them, stating that their abductors had warned that such a move would be counter-productive. 

Benson Emmanuel, one of the abductees, spoke for others. He spoke with trepidation as he appealed to the Nigerian government and his global audience to help fast track their release. Emmanuel was trapped, like his co-abductees; death loitered around them. Emmanuel said most of them were injured and needed medical attention. Despite the horrendous ordeal that the abductees were going through, as depicted by the video clip, their armed captors were seen whipping some of the victims. With swollen eyes, scorched lips, scrawny frames, weather-beaten clothes, it was clear that the abducted students needed their freedom and urgent medical attention. 

Sadly, their stay with their abductors would linger for weeks. With a weak voice and a tired look, Emmanuel looked into his abductors’ camera: “My name is Benson Emmanuel, from forestry mobilisation. We appeal to the government to come and rescue us. Most of us here have been badly injured,” Emmanuel said. 

Nothing could be more guilt-riddling for a failed state and frighteningly unnerving for the parents and loved ones of the students when Emmanuel announced: “Time is going. Most of us here are having health issues and they (bandits) are complaining about the government trying to send security operatives to come and rescue us from here, which is almost impossible, because these people have surrounded us, saying anybody that comes from anywhere to come and rescue us or do anything by force, they are going to take our lives. 

“We are appealing to the government to come now, because these people have a bad mind towards us.” 

Emmanuel informed of the gruesome deaths that awaited them in their hands of their kidnappers should the demands of their abductors go unmet. 

Weeks after Emmanuel’s appeal, the kidnappers released another video of the abducted students, including a pregnant girl. In the five-minute video shot at night at an unknown location, a bandit speaking in Hausa and Fulfulde languages asked some of the students to come forward and speak before the camera. In the video, the pregnant woman the bandits addressed as Hajiya pleaded with her parents to rescue the students. 

“We are appealing to our parents to help us. We are tired and there is no food. They should do their best to get us out of this place. We have spent 47 days, and almost all of us are ill and there is no food. We sleep in the open even when it rains,” Hajiya said. 

The bandits also introduced a woman they addressed as the wife of a military officer, who was abducted from her home in Tirkania-Agwa in the Chikun local government area of Kaduna. 

The victim, who said her husband is a naval officer working in Warri, Delta state, urged the Federal Government to come to their rescue. The second video had stung the public into an outcry. 

On Tuesday, grieving parents of the abducted students took their frustration and fear to the National Assembly complex in Abuja where they protested the long stay of their children in the camp of their abductors. They chanted songs of solidarity and displayed placards demanding prompt rescue of the students. 

Some of the placards read: “Education is our right!” “Safety is our right!” “Freedom is our right!”, “Free Afaka 29!” while the protesters who took off from the “Unity Fountain” chanted as they marched to the National Assembly. Addressing the crowd, Comrade Abdullahi Usman, who led the parents said: “We are here to appeal to the members of the National Assembly to help us intervene to release our children from the kidnappers. Now they have spent 55 days in captivity and we are still counting. There is no hope. Kaduna State government said they cannot do anything. Even the Ministry of Environment which supervises the team is not doing anything. The Director-General of the school is not doing anything. Even the minister travelled to America to spend Sallah with his family.” 

Also speaking, one of the parents, Mrs Rabbi Zacharia Magajji, was in tears as she said in pidgin, “I no fit talk with my boy. Help us abeg just help us (sic).” 

 

Rash of abductions 

Armed groups have overrun many towns, leaving deaths, destruction and waste behind. 

The erstwhile mass abduction of secondary school pupils and the recent hostage-taking of students of tertiary institutions in the North is an indication of a greater malaise. 

Since December 2020, a total of 769 students have been taken in at least five school kidnappings in northern Nigeria. Since the abduction and eventual release of the Afaka students, no fewer than 618 schools have been closed in six northern states over the fear of attack and abduction of pupils and members of staff. 

The six states where some schools have remained closed are Sokoto, Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Niger and Yobe. There are also mounting outcry for the release of the abducted Greenfield University students who have remained with their abductors for a long while. Five were killed; one has been released; 16 still in captivity. This sad reality portends graver consequences for the North and the larger society. 

 

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

Nigeria Is Where It Is Now Due To Leadership Of Family, Friends, Acquaintances Rather Than Ability To Deliver ― Jonathan

Former President of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, has opined that Nigeria is where it is today because of leadership of family and friends, acquaintances rather than ability and capability to deliver.

I Slept With My 12-Yr-Old Daughter Because My Wife Is No Longer Attractive To Me, Man Tells Police

A 49-year-old man, Ubong Akpan, is now in net of the Ogun State Police Command for allegedly having carnal knowledge of his 12-year-old daughter.

Cryptocurrency: Understanding The Craze, Threat

ON Friday, February 6, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rocked the boat with a circular that inadvertently highlighted how popular cryptocurrency transactions have become among Nigerians in recent years, judging by… 

After Two Years, Daddy Freeze Apologises To Bishop Oyedepo
Daddy Freeze whose real name is Ifedayo Olarinde has apologised to Bishop Oyedepo who is the presiding bishop and founder of Living Faith Church aka Winners Chapel…