A school bus carrying 15 elememtary school children was blocked by a random vehicle and attacked. A gang of men came on to the school bus and kidnapped all 15 children whose ages ranged from three to te years old. The victims on the school bus are chilren of wealthy families in Nigeria's south-eastern town of Aba. Many schools, banks, and markets fear the possibility of another attack so they have shut down mostly all businesses an schools in the town. The gang of men who carried out the attack set out ransom of $130,00 for the children's safe return. There has been a rise in hostage-taking in Abia state, where many middle class Nigerians now travel with armed escorts for protection. Kidnappings in Nigeria's south-east are carried out by criminal gangs seeking ransom, but also by armed groups demanding a fairer distribution of oil revenue in a country flowing with oil but where most people live on less than $1 a day. I hope to see the safe return of these children very soon because many victims of these kidnappings are still returned harmed after the criminals still have recieved their ransom. This is a devastating and mindless crime that can possibly be avoided by simply creating a fairer distribution of oil revenue.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11434483
this is a shocking way for people to get money. I hope that the children aren't harmed or raped by their kidnappers while waiting for the ransom..
ReplyDeleteI think the last two paragraphs show an interesting contrast. One says that unrest was reduced in the Delta by an amnesty and the other says the parliament is considering the death penalty for kidnappers as a deterrent. Hmmm.
ReplyDelete