The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has expressed relief when he was briefed about the release of the 27 students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, Kaduna State on Wednesday.
This was disclosed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu in a statement titled “President Buhari welcomes release of Forestry School students.”
The statement partly read, “We are happy they have been released. We express our deep appreciation to all the actors who contributed one way or the other to this happy outcome, in particular, the defence and security agencies, the officials of the Ministry of Environment and the government of Kaduna State. We thank Nigerians for their prayers.
“The President appeals for the release of the students of the Greenfield University and all other citizens held in captivity, expressing the strong determination of his administration to ensure that Nigerians lived in a country where everyone can move where they want, when they want without the fear of kidnapping and banditry,” the statement added.
Recall that the president had pleaded for the release of the abducted Kaduna University students, who were held in captivity since their abduction on April 20.
WUZUPNIGERIA reported on Wednesday how some of the concerned parents alleged that they paid N800,000 to secure the release of their children with the help of controversial Islamic cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi who has since denied the claim.
While negotiations were on to secure their release, five of the students were killed.
Many blamed the State government for vehemently refusing to meet the demands of the bandits.
