Bandits who kidnapped pupils of the Salihu Tanko Islamiyya School in Tegina town in the Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State have  contact with the management of the institution.

The bandits contacted the school headmaster, Alhaji Abubakar Alhassan, around 4pm on Monday, asking him to pay N110m as ransom for the release of his pupils.

Speaking to journalists on the telephone on Tuesday, Alhassan said the bandits claimed to have 156 pupils with them.

According to him, the kidnappers threatened that if they did not pay the ransom by the end of today (Wednesday), they would kill all the children.

Alhassan said the message had been passed to the state government, which said it would not pay any ransom.

It was learnt that some public-spirited people in the community had, however, started raising the money.

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Meanwhile, the state government has said it has set the necessary machinery in motion to ensure the safe release of the schoolchildren.

A statement by Mary Noel Berje, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Abubakar Bello, quoted the state Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Ketso, as also saying, “Government is on the pursuit of the bandits and efforts are being put in place to identify them.

“The number of the kidnapped schoolchildren is not fully ascertained. However, efforts by security agencies to secure their release have been intensified. We don’t pay ransom to abductors. We are trying to negotiate to see how we can bring them back safely.”