LAGOS, Aug 24, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Twenty Nigerian medical students kidnapped as
they went to a convention have been freed more than a week after their
abduction, police said Saturday.

Gunmen seized the 20 on August 15 as they travelled to a conference in Benue
state, in the centre of the country, and later demanded a ransom, police
said.

State police said in a statement that they had "confirmed the release of the
20 students from the University of Maiduguri and University of Jos".

No details were given on how the students were freed but the country's police
chief had this week deployed a "tactical squad" in Benue as part of efforts
to find the latest victims of a rising wave of abductions in Africa's most
populous country.

Fortune Olaye, secretary general of the NIMSA national medical students
association, confirmed the release to AFP. "We've spoken to them on the
phone. They are safe," Olaye said.

Thousands of people are abducted for ransom in Nigeria each year, though
there are few reliable statistics. The Nigerian consultancy, SBM
Intelligence, said it had recorded 4,777 kidnappings in the country between
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu taking power in May 2023 and January 2024.