In the footage widely shared on Facebook, some of the students appeared visibly distressed. In one video, a kidnapped student appeals to the government to cooperate with their prisoners while a figure in the background points a gun at his head and back.
The students were abducted on Thursday night under 39 after gunmen attacked the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization in Mando, Kaduna, according to police in Kaduna.
The students, who were forcibly taken away from their residences – some of them in their nightwear – could be seen in the video in which the government was asked to be diplomatic in its dealings with the armed men.
The student asking for cooperation, whose name is called Emmanuel, also says that a powerful rescue operation will be answered with serious consequences from the criminal gang. He added that “many of us here are injured – badly injured … time is running out … most of us here have health problems.”
It was not immediately clear whether the heavily armed kidnappers, dressed in military fatigue, made any ransom requests.
Muhammad Jalige, a Kaduna police spokesman, told CNN on Sunday that the force was not aware of any monetary demands made by the attackers.
“We are not aware of that. Even if they make any request, it will be done by the school board,” Jalige said, confirming the authenticity of the video.
“The video is very authentic. The bandits used one of the abducted victims to record the video,” he said.
Jalige said ransom is not an option.
“No one is willing to consider it. This is what we are trying to do to fight the bandits and get the students out,” he said.
The Federal College of Forestry and Mechanization is a higher education institution located in Afaka, a forest community near Nigeria’s Defense Academy. The students of the college, who are between 19 and 25 years old, specialize in agricultural studies.
In a statement on Friday, Samuel Aruwan, commissioner of the Ministry of Homeland Security and Home Affairs in Kaduna, said 180 students had been rescued by soldiers involving the armed bandits.
‘The troops successfully rescued 180 civilians; ’42 female students, eight staff and 130 male students … about 30 students, a mix of men and women, have yet to be accounted for,’ the statement read.
Jalige told CNN on Sunday morning that 39 students were still being held by the bandits and that a rescue team was working to ensure the release of the students without any casualties.
“We have planned a joint operation with other sister security agencies to rescue the abduction victims unharmed,” the police spokesman said.
Daniel Atep, a student leader who heads an association of agricultural students at the college, told CNN that he recognized almost everyone in the viral video and identified one of the inmates.
“I know everyone in that video,” said Atep, who also confirmed police’s allegation that the kidnappers used one of the victims to film the plea for help.
Atep added that the school management had not put in place any security measure to ensure the safety of students in the residences where most students live before the attack.
Another student, Zainab Umar, told CNN that her roommate was also seen in the video
An assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday released a statement in which he welcomed the “early response of the army that led to the rescue of 180 students, including eight staff members” and demanded that the other students be released safely.
Buhari said his government would not allow ‘the destruction of the school system’ by ‘bandits in schools’.
Kidnapping abounds in Northern Nigeria
More than 300 schoolgirls were abducted earlier this month from a school in the state of Zamfara, also in northwestern Nigeria.
At least 42 people were abducted and later released in a state-run school in Kagara, Nigeria, last month, and more than 300 schoolboys were taken in December and later released.
Kidnapping for ransom is rampant in parts of Nigeria and has become a major security challenge. State governors regularly pay ransoms to secure the safety of victims, but rarely admit that they do.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari recently told state governors to “review their policy of rewarding bandits with money and vehicles” and saying the policy “could fall back with potentially disastrous consequences.” Buhari also urged governors to work hard to secure their schools.