Mixed Feelings As Released Bethel Students Reunite With Parents

It was a touching moments of sadness, depresion and joy on Sunday as some of the parents of the released abducted 121 students of Bethel Baptist Secondary School, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State met with their loved children that were in captivity of deadly bandits.

This is as the National Publicity Secretary of Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), Mr. Luka Binniyat, announced that N50 million was paid in addition to the purchase of some motorcycles that were delivered to the bandits before they released the 28 Kidnapped students.

Binniyat wrote on his Facebook wall on Sunday saying; “The enemies of God and mankind a.k.a Bandits have reneged on their promise after collecting N50m and motorcycles to release the 121 kidnaped Bethel Baptist School kids”.

Twenty-eight out of the 121 kidnapped students were released in the early hours of Sunday leaving behind 117 students still in the den of the bandits.

As soon as the news of the released students hit the waves and started trending in the social media, parents, relatives and friends of the students started moving to and congregating at the school premises with the hope of finding their children among those released by the bandits after spending about two weeks in the forest with the bandits.

For the released students, upon sighting their parents, ran towards them into their warm embrace amidst happiness and tears of joy for safe arrival.

However, the story was not the same with other parents whose children were not lucky to be among those that regained freedom as they gazed with expectations that turned out not to be. It was sad and painful moment for them as they kept searching, checking among the released students, asking; “where is my son, where is my daughter?

As the expected parents intensified their search amongst the released students, most of them could not hold back their emotions as tears freely flowed down their cheeks.

One of the parents, Mr. Jonathan Dauda, who w not fortunate to find his daughter among the released students, broke down uncontrollably even as he later said that he believe God that his daughter will be released soon, saying; “God cannot lie. My daughter will surely be released.”

Attempts made to gather information from parents of the released students on the ransom paid proved difficult as none of the parents was willing to volunteer any information on it.