Gunmen who kidnapped six female students and two staff members from their hostels at a remote school in Kaduna State have demanded ransom, Governor Nasir El-Rufai said on Friday.

The armed assailants gained entry to Engravers College, a mixed boarding school in a remote area just south of the city of Kaduna, early on Thursday and seized the victims.

“They have made a demand for money and that is being negotiated,” El-Rufai told reporters in Abuja.

He refused to disclose details of the demands or negotiations, saying the authorities were “trying to protect the victims and secure their release.”

El-Rufai said those responsible for the Kaduna kidnapping had made contact with parents and that Police had gathered relatives together to facilitate communication.

He insisted the Police, Army and Air Force remained on the hunt for the kidnappers and their victims.

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A mother of one of the kidnapped children told AFP she had briefly spoken with her daughter by phone.

“My daughter called me early Friday morning on a phone number I didn’t know,” she said.

“She was crying and sounded frightened.”

The school was deserted on Thursday after parents hastily took their children home as news of the abduction spread.