Parents of the kidnapped students of the University of Jos, on Monday, faulted claims by the police that they had rescued the abducted students, the PUNCH reports.
Recall that seven students of the University of Jos were abducted from their hostel located off campus in Jos last week while preparing for their second semester examinations.
The victims later regained their freedom after four days.
However, a press release from the spokesman for the Plateau State Police Command, Alabo Alfred, claimed that the kidnapped students were rescued by the anti-kidnaping unit of the police command.
But narrating their ordeal in the hands of the abductors while speaking with journalists in Jos on Monday, the distraught parents of the kidnapped students faulted the police claim, saying that the kidnapped students were rather released after they paid ransom to the kidnappers .
One of the parents, Dung Prince, whose son Dan, was among the freed students, explained after the parents raised ransom after the kidnappers contacted them and they negotiated.
“We, the parents of the kidnapped students, later met and I can tell you that each parent discussed with the kidnappers individually for ransom payment. And it was after we agreed with the kidnappers that they asked us to come to Gurum village near Mista Ali community in the Bassa LGA of Plateau State.
“We went there and after giving them the ransom we earlier agreed, they asked us to return to a bridge in Mista Ali and wait; that the kidnapped students will meet us there. We waited till 12am, and when there was no sign of anyone in sight, one of the parents, whose son was also kidnapped, suggested that we leave the place and report the matter at the Mista Ali Police Station.
“As we got to the police station, we were surprised to see the kidnapped children there,” the parent said.
Explaining how the students got to the police station, she added, “The students told us that the kidnappers left them in the bush and that as they were trekking towards the town, they met a woman and inquired to know where they were and the woman told them that they were in Mista Ali.
“They begged the woman for food and she gave them one moin-moin. The woman then took them to the chief of the village, who then moved them to the police station. So, the claim by the police that the students were rescued by its anti- kidnapping unit is not true.”
Another parent, Monday Mwi, who corroborated Dung’s account on how the kidnapped students were rescued, added, “It is by the grace of God that the kidnapped students did not die of hunger and exhaustion because the kidnappers fed them only with mango throughout the four days they were with them.’’
