KADUNA: Father dies of shock days after watching abducted daughter speak in viral video

THE continued confinement of the 39 students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, abducted by armed bandits may have started taking its toll on some of their parents.

Ibrahim Shamaki, father of one of the kidnapped students, Fatima, who pleaded in the viral video released by the bandits on March, 13, reportedly died of shock a few hours after the broadcast yesterday.

Following an order from one of the kidnappers that a female should speak, Fatima had in the video said in Hausa that their abductors had warned that should anyone try to rescue them, none of them would go back home alive.

The bandits had demanded N500m ransom.

Shamaki was said to have died as result of trauma of his daughter’s abduction. A family source said he died in a hospital in Maradi, Niger Republic, after he was taken there for medical attention.

He was said to have taken ill following the release of the viral video before breathing his last almost a week after

His remains would be brought back to the country and buried today (Saturday) in accordance with Islamic rites, said the source.

Though there is no medical report or autopsy to confirm the cause of death, Fatima’s father was said to have been psychologically affected by the sight of his helpless daughter pleading for freedom in her kidnappers’ den.

On March 11, bandits in large numbers invaded the federal institution opposite the Nigerian Defence Academy along the Kaduna International Airport road and abducted at least 39 students of the school.

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has insisted he would not enter into peace talks with bandits in his state or negotiate with them.

Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu backed El-Rufai yesterday while featuring on Channels TV Programme ‘Sunrise Daily’. He said he was deeply touched by the outcry of the parents of the abducted students.

He, however, noted that paying a ransom would only make kidnapping through banditry attractive and fester in the country.

“So long as we continue to pay money, it will continue to thrive and one of us will ever be safe in this country. This thing about payment to captors of innocent citizens is something that has to end for kidnapping to end,” he said.

“Some arrests are ongoing, nothing is finalised as we speak now,” Shehu added.