Kidnappers Threaten to Kill Six Nigerian Law School Students Over Unpaid Ransom
Six Nigerian Law School students abducted in Benue State are facing death threats from their captors over unpaid ransom demands
The students were kidnapped on Saturday, July 26, while travelling from Onitsha, Anambra State, to the Yola campus of the Nigerian Law School in Adamawa State. They were reportedly returning from their court externship break to resume lectures scheduled to begin on Monday, July 28.
A fellow law student, Damilare Adenola, identified the victims as Rev. Ernest Okafor, Ogbuka Fabian, Nwamma Philip, Okechukwu Obadiegwu, Obalem Emmanuel, and Obiorah David.
A student leader at the Yola campus confirmed the abduction, stating that the victims last made contact shortly before entering a dangerous stretch of road between Benue and Nasarawa states.
Sources at the Yola campus disclosed that the kidnappers initially demanded N20 million per victim but have since increased the ransom to N50 million each.
A source familiar with a phone conversation between one of the abducted students and the kidnappers told revealed on Monday evening that the criminals had issued grave threats.
“They said they will kill them if we don’t pay. They also warned us not to involve security agencies, claiming they are monitoring everything. They insisted that silence and compliance are the only way to keep the students alive,” the source said.
The Adamawa State Police Command confirmed awareness of the incident. Its spokesperson, Yahaya Suleiman, stated that the command is working in collaboration with its Benue counterpart to locate and rescue the victims.
Efforts to reach the spokesperson of the Benue State Police Command, Catherine Anene, were unsuccessful at the time of filing this report.
This case adds to a growing list of abductions targeting Nigerian Law School students. In 2022, two students from the Agbani campus in Enugu State were similarly abducted while shopping at Eke Agbani market and taken to an unknown location.
