The armed bandits who abducted 148 Islamiyya School Children in Salihu Tanko Islamic School, Tegina, in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State have increased their demand from N110 million to N200 million.
The Headmaster of the School, Mallam Abubakar Garba Alhassan who stated this at the weekend, stated that the abductors made the increment after the expiration of the Wednesday deadline initially given to them.
He added that the kidnappers initially demanded N300 million before subsequently reducing it to N110 million after pleas.
Mallam Hussani, who further disclosed that most of the pupils abducted were between the ages of four years to 10 years respectively, stressing that from the report he heard from one of the victims, the health of most of the children have deteriorated and they are in need of urgent medical attention as a result of the harsh conditions they were being subjected to.
“They threatened to kill the children if we fail to fulfil their demands on time,” the headmaster added.
The headmaster added that contrary to an earlier statement issued by the state government 148 children were abducted.
“We confirmed the actual number of the children through a register we opened for parents to indicate if their children were not at home,” he maintained.
Mallam Hussaini further pleaded with the Niger State Government for an immediate response, noting that “so far, none of the state government’s officials had visited the community since on Sunday when the young school children were abducted within the premises of the school.
“None of them was here except the Chairman of Rafi Local Government Council who sent his cabinet members to sympathise with us and the District Head who is always with us here,” he remarked.
Mallam Hussain, however, stated that the parents and some public-spirited Nigerians have organized a fundraiser within the local community in order to meet the ransom demanded.
“We have so far contributed about N350,000 within the community as we await sympathisers and other well-meaning people and organizations to come to our aid,” he concluded.
