Ransom for 120 students who were abducted by bandits from Bethel Baptist High School, Kaduna have reportedly been reduced to N60m.

Punch reported that the bandits demanded N500,000 for each of the remaining 120 students and gave Monday July 19 as deadline for the payment of the ransom. This was after they released one of the captives on grounds of ill health.

The bandits had demanded hundreds of millions of naira, but later scaled down their demands to N60m, reducing it to N500,000 per student.

One of the parents told the publication that they are working with the Baptist church to raise the ransom. The parent said if the ransom was paid on Monday, the students “will hopefully be released on Tuesday going by the promise of their abductors.”

She said; “We (parents) have gathered some amounts but the church is trying to raise the remaining money to meet up with the demands of the bandits.”

A brother to one of the kidnapped students, Jesse Peter, said;

“The bandits called us on Saturday and said we should raise N500,000 for each of the 120 students remaining with them in the bush. They gave us till Sunday morning to pay the money before shifting the ultimatum to Sunday evening. We have yet to pay and the time they gave us has elapsed and they have not communicated with us since then.

“The parents are still shocked about the whole thing. As for us, we don’t have such money anywhere. We have resorted to prayers.”