A group of recently abducted Nigerian Law School students have revealed that they were forced to pay ₦10 million each in ransom to regain their freedom, directly contradicting official claims by the police that the students were rescued through a tactical operation.
The students, who were kidnapped along the Bwari Expressway en route to the Nigerian Law School campus in Abuja last month, said they spent days in captivity under dire conditions, during which they endured physical and psychological trauma. In a chilling account to journalists on Monday, the survivors stated that their families were compelled to raise huge sums of money to secure their release, without any support from security agencies.
“We were not rescued. We were released after our parents paid the ransom,” one of the victims, whose identity is withheld for safety reasons, said. “The police did not storm any location or engage in a rescue. That narrative is a lie.”
This revelation has sparked outrage and raised renewed questions over the integrity, efficiency, and transparency of Nigerian security agencies in handling abduction cases, particularly those involving high-profile victims.
Earlier last week, the Nigeria Police Force issued a statement claiming that a joint security operation had successfully rescued the students from their captors. That statement is now under heavy scrutiny.
Civil society organizations and human rights groups are demanding an independent investigation into the matter and have called on the government to hold security operatives accountable for misleading the public.
“This incident exposes a painful truth: families are being abandoned to negotiate with terrorists on their own while the authorities issue false statements to cover their failures,” said Aisha Bello, spokesperson for Citizens for Safe Nigeria. “It is unacceptable.”
As of today, there has been no official response from the Nigeria Police Force addressing the contradiction between its earlier statement and the victims' accounts.
The families of the victims, meanwhile, have urged the government to ensure their safety and prevent any form of retaliation from the kidnappers or security agencies for speaking out.