The Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for the Northern Region and the Federal Capital Territory, Rev. John Hayab, has revealed that a parent of three abducted schoolchildren in Niger State has died of a heart attack.
Rev. Hayab made the disclosure on Tuesday during an appearance on Politics Today, a programme on Arise Television, monitored by Daily Post.
The deceased, identified simply as Mr Anthony, was one of the parents whose children were among the over 200 pupils kidnapped by bandits from a Catholic-owned private school.
At least 50 of the abducted children were reported to have escaped and reunited with their families.
Hayab described the atmosphere among the affected families as one of deep fear and emotional turmoil, noting that many parents were too traumatised to speak.
One of the parents of the abducted children from the school died yesterday. Mr Anthony died of a heart-attack following the abduction of his 3 children.
People don’t understand that when you tell it as it is, you’re not speaking against anybody, you are only trying to state the problem. “The pains, the trauma, are still very fresh.
We tried speaking to the parents today, and they were scared of speaking to us. When I was speaking to the leadership of the church this, it’s really a sad thing.
You can imagine, the man was in shock because three children he would not even explain what’s happening to them.
“These are children who are used to possibly wake up in the morning to brush their teeth, have breakfast and later tea break or lunch depending on the school system and then dinner. These children have not seen sleep in the past few days.
They have not done some of those things and have not even taken their bath. You can imagine what they are going through.
“Now the parents themselves cannot tell exactly where they are and what happens to them.
I think there’s a mix-up of information even in some of these conversations,” he said.
The CAN leader urged authorities to intensify efforts to locate and rescue the remaining children, stressing that the current trauma was taking a heavy toll on families and the entire community.