Armed bandits have released 9 of the 21 students from Federal University Gusau (FUGUS),after 178 harrowing days in captivity.
Negotiators disclosed that it required four months of persistent persuasion and overturea before the kidnappers freed the students.
The abductors insisted that their demands were not monetary but requested that Ali Kawaje not be arrested by security forces, whom they aimed to neutralise.
Kawaje was recently eliminated by troops of the Nigerian army.
The DHQ had in November 2022 declared no fewer than 19 bandit leaders wanted with a bounty of N5million on each of them to encourage Nigerians to volunteer information that could lead to their arrest.