From Maiharaji Altine
Parents of abducted students of Federal University Gusau in Zamfara state have on Monday staged a peaceful demonstration in Gusau demanding for the release of their children.
The parents who came from various states converged at Government House Gusau to demand for the release of their children who have been in captivity for 74 days.
The parents have sworn that they would not leave Zamfara unless their children were rescued.
One of the protesters who gave his name as Yakubu Mohammed said he came all the way from Abuja to join the protest because both the state and the federal government have failed to rescue their children.
Mohammed expressed disgust over the nonchalant attitude of the appropriate authorities to rescue their children who have been in bandits camps for over two months.
He said, “My Daughter Naziratu Mohammed is among the students of the Federal University Gusau who were abducted in their hostels 74 days ago”.
“We have followed all necessary steps to get our children rescued but unfortunately there is no any positive result”.
“I was communicating with my daughter Naziratu Mohammed sometimes ago, but currently I lost contact with her”.
“I am not happy at all because both the Zamfara state and federal government have remained silent over the issue”.
“Today we are in Zamfara to ensure the rescue of our children and we will not leave until our children are rescued”.
“The government has been calling on the parents to allow their female children to go to school and we have complied with the this campaign”.
“We accepted the call and allowed our daughters to get admission into the University for higher education”.
“With this kind of scenario, I don’t think there is any parent who will now send his daughter to go for higher education if the government cannot grantee their security”.
“It will be very difficult to convince the parents to send their children to school with this kind of security challenges”.
“We had a meeting with the Vice Chancellor of the university who told us that he would do something, but up to this moment, nothing has been done “.
“We are not going anywhere until we see our children”. Concluded Mohammed.
Another parent, Bashir Yakubu said, since the time the children were abducted, there was no concrete step taken by the authorities to release them.
Yakubu who came from Suleija in Niger state said his daughter Umaima Mohammed Bashir was among the abductees.
He said, he was communicating with the university’s authority to know when the children would be released, lamenting that, “They kept on telling me that they don’t know”.
He said, “We complained to the Vice Chancellor who told us that there was nothing the University could do”.
Yakubu narrated that one of the bandits called him to confirm if he was the father of Umaima.
He said, “One of the bandits called me to confirm whether I am the farther of Umaima and I told him that she is my daughter”.
“He then told me that he wanted to help the girl because of her bad condition and asked me if I could give him N13 million for her release”.
“I told him that I didn’t have the money and since then he has stopped calling me”.
Yakubu expressed unhappiness for the failure of both the federal and state government to rescue the abducted students.
He maintained that he would not leave Zamfara state unless his daughter was released.
“I will remain here until my daughter is rescued”. He concluded.
Frantic efforts made to speak to the Commissioner on security Captain Bala Mairiga (rtd) as he refused to pick up his phone calls.
Similarly a text message was sent to him but he declined to respond.
