The abducted students of the College of Agriculture and Animal Sciences, Bakura in Zamfara State have appealed to Governor Bello Matawalle and the government to pay the ransom demanded by their abductors within 24 hours.

In a 30-second video clip obtained by Channels Television, yesterday, the students were seen begging the state government to do the needful to ensure they are released by the bandits.

“We are the students of the College of Agriculture and Animal Science, Bakura that were abducted by the bandits,” said one of the students who spoke in Hausa.

“You can see the conditions we are in. They are threatening to kill us if the government does not produce the ransom in 24 hours. The bandits even took us to see the dead bodies of those they have killed.”

In the video, the students and some of the female staff were seen squatting and blindfolded with the heavily armed men surrounding them.

Hours after the video was released, the Commissioner for Information in Zamfara, Ibrahim Dosara, told Channels Television that the state government would do everything possible to secure the release of the abducted students and staff of the college.

He explained that a joint team of security agencies have begun a search and rescue operation.

The commissioner attributed the recent upsurge of bandits’ activities in the state to the intense military operation against recalcitrant bandits in the entire northwest region.

A total of 20 people comprising 15 students, four staff, and a driver were abducted on Sunday night when bandits stormed the school.

During the attack, two watchmen and a police officer were killed.

Two days after the incident, the abductors demanded a ransom of N350 million before they would release their victims.

Meanwhile, the Zamfara State Commissioner of Police, Ayuba Elkana, last night said the command succeeded in rescuing not fewer than 12 victims, including a tertiary institution Chief Security Officer, CSO, kidnapped from the Yarkofoji village, Bakura and Tsafe Local Government Areas of the state.

Elkana in a statement by the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Mohammed Shehu, said the victims were rescued following a search and rescue strategies employed by the command.

According to him, “the Zamfara State Police Command received report of abduction of 11 persons by some group of hoodlums suspected to be bandits at Yarkofoji village in Bakura LGA on August 12, 2021.

“In its ongoing search and rescue operations across the state, the command succeeded in rescuing 11 victims that were abducted on August 12, 2021,” SP Shehu said.