•Police deny knowledge of ransom demand

Kidnappers of five pupils and four staff of the Apostolic Faith Church Primary and Secondary School in Emure, headquarter of Emure Council of Ekiti State have reportedly reduced their demand from N100m to N15million.

The school bus conveying the pupils and their teachers, including the driver, was ambushed by the gunmen suspected to be kidnappers at about 6.00 p.m. on Monday, along Eporo-Ekiti road, a boundary between Ondo and Ekiti State.

The kidnappers later reached out to the families of the victims and demanded a ransom of N100m for the release of their captives.

However, speaking with newsmen on the telephone, yesterday, one of the relatives of abductees, who didn’t want to be mentioned, said the ransom was reduced by the kidnappers after appeals.

The visibly worried relative stated that the criminals had vowed to kill the victims if the ransom was not paid on time.

“We need money urgently now to keep our children and their teachers alive and be able to secure their release. I spoke with the kidnappers today (Thursday), they called four to five times, and they said that the ransom is now N15m.”

He pleaded with Nigerians, the state government, Federal Government to come to the aid of the distraught families to rescue the children and teachers from their captors.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Sunday Abutu, denied knowledge of the ransom requested by the kidnappers. (The Guardian)