The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Wednesday dismissed reports that three out of the 120 kidnapped students of Bethel Baptist High School, Kaduna have been killed.

Chairman of Kaduna CAN, Rev. Joseph Hayab, said all the abducted students, including the girls were in good condition.

He however said parents and other stakeholders were at the moment finding it hard to raise the ‘outrageous’ ransom demanded by the kidnappers.

Hayab, who was reacting to reports that three of the female students were killed by the bandits, said the parents and school management were in contact with the kidnappers who assured them all the students were fine.

It was reported that the kidnappers demanded a cumulative ransom of N60 million to free the students.

The CAN Chairman however said negotiation was ongoing among parents, stakeholders and the bandits over the ransom.

He lamented that he could not explain the rationale behind reports three female students were killed.

According to him, “there is nothing like that. We are in contact with the bandits. The girls are doing fine and have not been killed so far. If it is a wish, we pray that wish will never come true. The challenge we have now is the demands the bandits are making on us. The ransom is outrageous. But we are negotiating.

”I can tell you that we have not paid one kobo as ransom apart from the foodstuff we contributed and gave the bandits for the feeding of the children. We are appealing that the kidnappers should know that the parents are poor; some of them are jobless and could not even meet the demands of paying school fees.

“The story of the rape and killing of the students by the kidnappers is not true. It is sad. This report started coming in on Saturday. We really do not know why someone would sit down in his house and write such a report that the girls were molested and because they refused the allowed them to have the way they were killed,” he said.

Courtesy (excluding headline) The Nation

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