Bandits release nine Nigerian university students

Terrorists on Friday released nine of the 21 kidnapped students of the Federal University Gusau, Zamfara State.

One of the negotiators who asked for anonymity told PREMIUM TIMES that the release of the nine students followed about four months of intense negotiations and lobbying.

The students spent 178 days in the terrorists’ camp following their abduction last September.

The students were abducted when terrorists stormed an off-campus hostel in Sabon Gida, a community opposite the university in the Zamfara State capital in September last year and abducted students and other residents of the community.

The negotiator told PREMIUM TIMES that the terrorists made it clear after the abduction that their aim was not money.

“We began discussing with them immediately after the students were taken. They were reluctant in the beginning but when we insisted, they listened to us,” he said as reported by Premium Times.

He said Ali Kawaje, the leader of the terror group that carried out the abduction, was angry with both the federal and Zamfara State governments for arresting his brother.

“These nine students were released as part of commitments by some of the Fulani leaders we involved in the negotiations,” he said.

When asked if money was involved, the negotiator said the terrorists themselves were “clear from the beginning” that no money should be involved.

“Even the people they’re saying the federal government should release, we’re yet to know who and who they’re talking about. So, we didn’t talk to the government about money and secondly, there was no prisoner swap. That’s what I can tell you,” he said.

The students were held by the terrorists in Babbar Doka forest near Kaduna State.