Parents of 15 abducted pupils of Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna sang and danced on Sunday when they united with the young lads after 46 days with their captors.

Bandits, on July 5, broke into their boarding school at Damishi on the Kaduna-Kachia highway in Chikun Local Government Area of the state and whisked away 121 pupils.

The abductors had released 28 of the pupils on July 25 after receiving N50 million ransom and later released few others on health grounds, while some escaped on their own.

But before the release of the latest 15 pupils on Saturday night, there were 78 pupils with the bandits.

The bandits had made fresh a demand of N80 million ransom to release the remaining 78 pupils in captivity.

It was also gathered that ransom was paid for the release of the 15 pupils.

Handing over the 15 freed and traumatised pupils to their parents at the Baptist Secretariat on Ahmadu Bello Way yesterday, President of Baptist Convention, Rev. Israel Akanji, said the convention expected the bandits to release all the remaining 78 pupils.

Read Also: My abductors tied me with no food or water for 48 hours – Niger Commissioner

He said: “We are grateful to God for the release of these 15 children. Although the number is smaller than what we expected, because we had 78 out there, they have given us 15. That means 63 others are still to come.

“But in everything, God says we should give thanks. We are grateful for what He has done. And we are trusting that the same God will help us to receive the remaining 63. We have great hope in God and we will keep praying and keep asking God for help.

“We do not know why they did not release all the children. But we are trusting God that others too will come.”

Akanji added: “Today, we rejoice over the release of our children. Our prayer is that our joy will be full and that the other children will be released to us very soon.

“What we are here to do today is to hand over the children back to their parents so that they can reunite.

“The last time when we brought them (the first batch of 28 pupils) straight from where they were released, their sights were not too pleasant.”

“So, this time round when they came, we tried to make them change their clothes so that they would appear a little bit different. They have had some changes of their clothes and took their bath because they have not been able to do this for all of the time they have been there (in kidnappers’ den) since July 5, 2021.

“Today, we are glad that they have changed and they can be received by their parents. Please, keep praying for us so that the other ones will be released.”

Although the Baptist Convention President declined to comment on the ransom the parents paid to secure the pupils, a source told The Nation that ransom was paid.

The students were conveyed to the Baptist secretariat in an 18-seater bus, few minutes after many of their patients were conveyed in two similar vehicles.