Armed bandits that Kidnapped the 156 pupils of the Salihu Tanko Islamiyya School in Tegina town, Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State last Sunday have raised the ransom for their freedom to N200m.

The bandits had initially, demanded the sum of N110m in order to set their victims who were mostly girls free, with a threat that failure to deliver the ransom by Thursday, they would kill them.

The bandits presently were said to have reached out to the parents, disclosing that the money had been increased to N200m with the same warning if the deadline was not met.

Mallam Ali Mohammed, a Tipper Driver and a father of five of the abductees confirmed the new development to DAILY POST, saying that the bandits contacted them on Thursday, disclosing that the ransom has been raised to N200m from the N110m they initially demanded.

The father of the five children in a telephone chat insisted that the bandits are serious about their threats of killing the children, if they fail to meet their demand.

Weeping, Mohammed stated, “the bandits are serious about killing our children if we cannot pay. We are poor people, we don’t have such money, we plead with the government to come to our assistance. We are feeling so abandoned.”

As at the moment, DAILY POST gathered no state government official has paid a visit to Tegina to sympathize with the parents of the abductees, since the incident occurred on Sunday.

But it was learnt that only the Rafi Local Government Chairman, Alhaji Ismaila Modibo and some members of his council have visited and commiserated with the parents of the victims.

However, it was gathered the parents and individuals including political office appointees in the area had so far contributed the sum of N11m for the release of the victims.

Furthermore, it was learnt that the mother of one of those abducted died on Thursday due the trauma she suffered as a result of the incident.