Our Children Should Not Die In Zamfara Kidnappers’ Den – Parents Of Abducted Corps Members Beg Nigerian Government

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Parents of some National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) corps members who were abducted along the Zamfara Highway on August 17, while travelling to the Sokoto State Orientation Camp for their orientation course, have appealed to the President Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian government and the Akwa Ibom State Government not to allow their children die in their abductors’ den.

The aggrieved parents, some of who spoke after their brief meeting on Monday in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, expressed lack of confidence in security agencies’ efforts to rescue kidnapped prospective corps members after three months they were kidnapped.

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One of the parents, Solomon Emmanuel, told Vanguard that two of the victims (a male and a female) only regained their freedom after they (parents) struggled to raise the ransom the kidnappers demanded.

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Emmanuel said, “I feel so bad when the government, particularly security agencies, say they are doing something to rescue those children. We only hear such things in the news, but we are not seeing results. The N70million those people are demanding currently is beyond us. We cannot afford that amount of money.

“So this is the time for the government to show that they are truly doing something about rescuing our children they sent to serve their fatherland in Sokoto and they were kidnapped. That is why we decided to gather today and collectively appeal to the government for help.”

Also speaking, another parent who simply identified herself as Mrs Idongesit, expressed fears over the kidnappers’ threat last week that if the parents failed to raise the N70million ransom, they would start killing the corps members one by one.

Idongesit said that “The last time I saw my daughter was at the AKTC motorpark when I saw her off. That day, I felt happy when I saw other corps members traveling with her. How could I have known that my daughter would not be safe traveling in AKTC? Till today I blame the AKTC for what happened to those children in Zamfara.

“We were told that the driver was told not to go through that route once it is 6pm but he didn’t listen. And after that first week the incident happened I have not been able to talk to my child again because they collected their phones from them. It hurts when I think about the punishment, suffering those children are passing through in the bush.

“These days I don’t sleep, I hardly eat. I spend the nights agonising why nobody, not even our own (Akwa Ibom) government cared about us in this situation. It’s sad and painful. We (parents) are helpless and desperate because all the people we have contacted have not given us any hope.

“We have met with even the paramount rulers to help us reach out to the governor but since then no feedback. I personally used other avenues like using some governor’s aides but I doubt if Governor Umo Eno saw those letters we wrote to him for help more than one month ago.

“And I am telling Governor Eno, our federal and state lawmakers, especially Senator President, Akpabio that we will not rest, we will continue to appeal to them to help bring back our children to us alive. Don’t let them die in Zamfara bush. We the parents are helpless. We need your urgent support because we have just few days to pay the ransom. There is no time.

“Some of us borrowed money, some took loans, some sold their property to raise over N30million ransom but unfortunately those children are still in captivity. If you are well placed in society, we need your support. Help us to rescue our children abducted for over three months now from Zamfara bandits. I have been restless since we were told that our children are weak?”

Also, Mr Bassey amid tears simply said, “I have not been myself since my son was kidnapped. I don’t want to lose my child. I can’t talk on this please.”