Kidnappers threatened to eliminate their abductees if 100 M ransom is not paid.
By Akawu Ibrahim
Victims of the deadly kidnapping raids at Adunu, Kwagana villages, Nanati and Beni in Paikoro and Munya local government areas of Niger state are at the risk of being eliminated by their abductors, recent developments have shown.
Three female kidnapped victims who were among the 69 abducted by the armed terrorists two weeks ago but recently released, had said their abductors promised to eliminate all the remaining captives if ransom for their release were not paid.
To demonstrate their resolve to execute their threat, the terror gang shot, in the presence of the women, one Moses Tanko Arada dead and asked them to take the massage home. The terrorists are currently demanding N100 million from the families of the abductees.
In an interview with journalists, the village head of Adunu, Mal. Kabiru Adunu said 62 members of his community were still missing. He said the terrorists had kidnapped more than 100 people but some had escaped.
He said the kidnappers demanded for N200m ransom but after intense negotiation with one of the community leaders who’s standing as a go-between, they agreed to accept N100m as a ransom.
On the 14th of March, four days to the governorship election, terrorists numbering over 300 and riding on motorbikes, raided several villages in Munya and Paikoro local government areas of Niger state, killing and abducting several hundreds while robbing and dispossessing many households in what witnesses described as one of the daring attacks by terrorists in recent times in broad daylight.
In the ensuing deadly attacks, a senior military officer and about five soldiers were killed in the encounter that lasted several hours at Itu, an outskirts of Sarkin Pawa in Munya local government area. Reports later revealed that two soldiers, two hunters and two vigilantes attached to the team are still missing.
Although the Niger state government is yet to release any statement more than two weeks now on the deadly attacks and abduction of its citizens and what it intends to do, villagers who spoke to Newsline on phone said the military responded decisively and neutralized many of the attackers.
The head of vigilante group in Kafin Koro, Ya’u Tsalha told our correspondent that the air component of the Nigerian military had raided several enclaves of the terrorists in Paikoro and Munya local governments.
He said the raids by the Airforce led to the escape of some abductees and the killing of about 50 bandits even though his claim was not independently verified. He further disclosed that the terrorists tried to regroup and launched another attacks but the airstrikes prevented them.
He said he heard, on good authority, that the terrorists were taken their captives to Zamfara state from the Birnin Gwari forests where they hide them waiting for ransom money to be paid.
However some of the freed female abductees who spoke on condition of anonymity said the fate of the remaining captives in the hands of the terrorists was dangerously uncertain except something urgent was done to secure their freedom.
They said the churches and family members in the community were still finding out ways to secure the release of the remaining victims, pleading with the state and federal government to intervene quickly to save the lives of those still in captivity.
The 14th March raids by terrorists happened when Catholic parishioners gathered in Kafin Koro to hold memorial mass in honor of the late Rev. Father Isaac Achi who was gruesomely murdered two months ago by the daredevil men in his parish house in Kafin Koro.
The terrorists burnt father Isaac Achi in his parish house late in the middle of the night in an operation accompanied by sounds of heavy gun fire. The inability of the police and other security agencies to respond to the attack infuriated some residents who in their protest, clashed with the police and which led to the burning down of the Kafin Koro police station.
“There is no police presence in Kafin Koro as I am talkin
