Residents of Masa community in Gusau local government of Zamfara State have been thrown into panic and sadness following the killing of a community leader Malam Zainu A.B Mada on Saturday by bandits.
Malam Zainu, a retired school teacher, was returning from Kotorkoshi around 08:00pm when he was intercepted and abducted by the bandits on 9 January, 21 Century Chronicles gathered.
Before he was abducted, family sources said the bandits killed one person and abducted two others the victim was traveling together with and abducted him alongside a motorcyclist.
“They called us in the morning to inform us that he was (Malam Zainu) was with them,” a family member told this newspaper anonymously. “They said we should give them N2,000,000 as ransom for his release, and we quickly gathered the money but they also asked for more things to be included.”
According to him, the bandits asked for two brand new Android phones, N30,000 worth of credit and N40,000 worth mobile data for browsing.
“We provided all that they requested for and sent the mobile data to the provided number. But when someone took the ransom to them, they beat him, collected the money and sent him away. They said one of the children of the victim should be the one to bring the ransom and not a random person. So, they decided to add another condition to the discussion and said we should bring another N700,000 before he is released,” the family member, who doesn’t want to be named said.
He said that when the family representatives reached out to the bandits the following morning, the bandits told them to wait only for them to later called and said that the victim has been killed.
“We didn’t delay the money they asked us to give them but as you know, we had to solicit for the money. Even the two million we gave them, we suffered to get it, so I think they were just happy to kill him. It’s not as if we even argued with them, they wanted to kill…they wanted to kill,” he said amid sobs.
Meanwhile, residents of Masa community have taken to social media to lament the continuation of bandits’ attacks in the area especially on the road that links the community with the main road.
