The president of Nigeria’s Christian Association, John Hayab, told local media that

the bandits released 32 students and 31 are still in captivity. He added that they had to pay ransom to have them freed.

The Baptist students returned to their residences after armed criminals on Thursday released 92 students abducted in May from an Islamic seminary in Niger state, humanitarian sources said.

In recent months, Nigeria’s northwest and central states have been caught up in a surge in violence from the heavily armed criminal gangs that loot villages, steal cattle and perpetrate mass abductions.

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