Kidnappers demand N900m for Abuja victims

A bank manager of TAJ Bank, Zamfara State branch, Mansur Kaura, has been kidnapped by bandits early on Tuesday morning.

Musa Ibrahim, a resident of the area, stated that the Kaura was abducted when the bandits stormed his residence at Rijiyar Gabas area in Gusau, Zamfara State capital, around 1:00 am.

The development followed an attack on Sunday at the Piko area of the Bwari Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory, where 13 people were abducted.

The bandits, according to a source close to the Madaki (head) of the community, Chief John Jatau, were demanding N900m to free the hostages.

Speaking on the abduction of the bank manager in Gusau, Ibrahim said the gunmen, after abducting him from his residence, whisked him to an unknown destination.

According to him, “The bandits, who carried sophisticated weapons, began to shoot sporadically in all directions immediately after they arrived at the manager’s residence.

“When they realised that the people of the area were hiding in their houses, they went straight to the bank manager’s residence and broke the door and then whisked him away.”

Ibrahim said the manager, when being driven away, was shouting for help but nobody could come out to rescue him.

“He was shouting for help but unfortunately, nobody could risk his life to come out and help him,” he said.

The spokesperson for the state police command, Yazid Abubakar, could not be reached for comment at the time of filling this report.

The FCT police command, however, promised to investigate the abduction of 13 people in the Piko area as residents panicked over the attack.

The Thediscovererng.com gathered that the bandits operated for over one hour without any confrontation from security agencies.

A source within the community said 10 residents were kidnapped.

While noting that the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of N900m, he also gave the names of the kidnapped victims from the community.

Those reportedly abducted are Nuhu Anyiwoyi, Emmanuel Nuhu, Danjuma Ali, Parisa Numa, Ezekiel Jatau, Shekwosa Ezekiel, Roseline Samuel, Salome Jacob, Abyelo Ezra, and Ezra Male.

“The incident occurred on Sunday night, at about 11 pm. The kidnappers raided the village for over one hour without any response from security operatives.

“Also, there was a problem. The challenge that the community faced during the attack was a lack of access to communication means.

“There was no telecommunication network in the village, so the bandits picked people from house to house. They kidnapped about 13 people, and later released three,” a source said.

When contacted Josephine Adeh, the spokesperson for the FCT police command, who pledged to investigate said, “I don’t have details yet, I’m reaching out to the DPO in the area, but I’m yet to hear from him.”