Abducted Nasarawa poly student’s mother cries for FG’s assistance

The mother of one of the abducted students of the Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa, kidnapped alongside 29 others while travelling along the Abuja-Nasarawa Highway has sought the intervention of the Federal Government in rescuing her child.

It was reported on Monday that about 30 travellers, including some students of the Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa, were abducted by kidnappers along the Abuja-Nasarawa Highway on Friday.

Our correspondent had, on Sunday, gathered from a source who pleaded anonymity due to the nature of the incident on Sunday that the kidnappers reportedly laid siege to the vehicles conveying the travellers and abducted them into a nearby bush in the Uke area of Nasarawa State.
The source stated further that a student among the abductees was travelling to her family in Abuja.

A driver of one of the buses who was said to have escaped the attack reportedly called the attention of the police in the area to the incident.

But, the mother of the student who identified herself simply as Madam Stock disclosed on Monday that the news of her daughter’s abduction came to her as a surprise.

She stressed that the incident had left her devastated, especially as no communication had been received from the abductors.

In her words, “We spoke on Thursday, and she told me there is an ongoing strike in her school. I sent her N5,000 as transport fare to come back home only for me to receive the news of her abduction.

“I have only been hearing about kidnapping in the news, but I never thought someone close to me would be a victim. I am appealing to the authorities to help me rescue my daughter.

“I am scared because her brother who visited the police station gathered that the abductors had reached out to some relatives, but they have yet to reach out to us. The government should help me.”

The brother of the student who spoke exclusively on the condition of anonymity for fear of attack from the kidnappers, confirmed that the abductors had yet to make any demand from the family nor communicated with them.
He lamented that the family had been troubled since the incident had happened.

He said, “We have yet to receive any call or message from them to know what they want. When I visited the police station, I gathered that some families of other persons who were abducted have been contacted and asked to pay N10m for each individual.

“The incident has put the family in distress, and we hope that the authorities will do something quickly to rescue the abducted persons. We are urging the police and the Federal Government to help us rescue our relatives unhurt.”

Efforts to get an update on the incident from the Nasarawa State Police Public Relations Officer, Rahman Nansel, proved abortive as he did not respond to messages sent to his line.

But he told our correspondent on Sunday night that a rescue operation was ongoing.

“An 18-seater bus was recovered at the scene, and three people were rescued. A search and rescue operation is still ongoing,” he had said.