Kidnapped UNIZIK Student Freed

Francisca Chioma

FRANCISCA Chioma, the kidnapped student from UNIZIK Anambra State's Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, has been released after going missing for five days.

Chief Security Officer Ken Chukwurah of the institution confirmed her release on Thursday, April 11.

He said that she was rescued on Wednesday, April 10, after her captors received an unknown ransom.

Chioma, a student in UNIZIK's Science Education Department, was allegedly kidnapped last Friday on her way to a burial in the Omasi community of the Ayamelum Local Government Area.

Chioma and her friend were reportedly taken captive by kidnappers in the Omasiunu region.

Before her release, the kidnappers had originally sought a ransom of N10 million, which had been lowered to N2 million after negotiations.

He declared, “Yes, she has been released. The debriefing we got from her was that she and her friend were not their target. They were just unfortunate to be around the area when the kidnapping operation was going on and they fell into their hands.

“The kidnappers were targeting to abduct one academic doctor and a member of the same family they were going to pay a condolence visit to. They heard that the man was coming in a public transport and they laid ambush.

“She confirmed that the kidnappers later abducted the academic doctor, who was their target and from their interactions, the assailants came from outside the state. She said the kidnappers made them trek a long distance in the bush and crossed them to Nsukka in Enugu State.

“When the incident was happening, we were interacting with security agencies because we initially thought it was not true, but the security agencies sent us a coordinate where they tracked them to somewhere in Enugu State.

“From the interactions with her, she said the family members and friends raised some amount of money and eventually the money was paid to the kidnappers, but we do not have the details of the actual amount that was paid.

“They said the man who was their target was eventually asked to pay N20 million, but negotiations were still going on between the man and the kidnappers before they were eventually released.”