Bandits who abducted 42 people mostly pregnant women, nursing mothers and children during a midnight raid on Sallah eve at Kabode village, in Kachia local government of Kaduna state, are demanding N200 million ransom.
Among those abducted are 18 women, who are mostly nursing mothers and pregnant, six infants and eight children.
The bandits also killed two young men during the attack on the village.
This newspaper confirmed that the bandits are now demanding N200 million ransom to release the villagers.
“They called me on Friday, that was two days after the abduction, demanding N200 million ransom for the release of our family members,” a resident of the village whose three wives and four children, were among those abducted, told this newspaper on Wednesday.
He said when the bandits called again on Tuesday, “I told them that we are only able to raised N3 million. On hearing that, the leader of the bandits cursed me and dropped the call.”
The raid, according to another resident of the village who spoke to 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE, happened on Wednesday last week when the people were preparing for Sallah after completing the annual Ramadan fast.
This newspaper learned that the village is a ginger farming community, bordering the Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre, Kachia.
Sale Buba, whose daughter, a nursing mother was abducted along with her infant, said dozens of bandits stormed the village around 11:30pm that fateful day.
He said the bandits shot dead a final year under-graduate student of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Muntaka Yusufa, who returned to the village for the Sallah festival.
“Another person, who came to the village for menial jobs, was also shot dead. Then, the bandits started shooting sporadically in the air causing commotion in the village,” he said.
Another source said the village was thrown into confusion because “there at least two people I know who have three wives each, and they were all abducted, some of them pregnant and some with infants. There are others who have at least two wives each, who are also being held by the kidnappers. It is a real tragedy,” one of the villagers whose two sisters were abducted, said.
Mr Buba said the incident was reported to the police division in Kachia local government.
The abduction was confirmed by the Kaduna State government on Saturday in a statement by the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr Samuel Aruwan.
In the statement, Governor Nasir El-Rufai sent condolence messages to the families of victims of recent banditry attacks across five local government areas of the state.
“Security agencies reported several incidences across the five local government areas in the last 72 hours, in which some citizens were killed and others injured.
“An attack by armed bandits was reported in Rafin Tukurwa and Takama villages of Birnin Gwari LGA. Similarly, armed bandits attacked Kabode village in Kachia LGA,” Mr Aruwan said.
