After pocketing N3 million ransom, terrorists locally known as bandits are demanding N10 million to release the body of an abductee who died in captivity.
Obadiah Ibrahim, a Kaduna-based man was kidnapped last month along Kaduna-Abuja road. During a weekend chat with newsmen, the deceased’s brother, Kefas Obadiah explained how the bandits milked millions of naira from the family and went ahead to kill the abductee.
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“Obadiah Ibrahim was kidnapped in early October in Sabon Gaya on his way back from Abuja,” the bereaved brother said. “Although I wasn’t the one communicating with the bandits. There was a negotiator.”
According to him, the terrorists earlier demanded N200 million but later settled for N3 million.
“They said we should bring the money,” he continued. “After giving them the ransom they told us the money was for their foodstuffs which got finished, and that we should go and bring N15 million.
“They later came down to N5 million and three motorbikes but later collected one bike. After collecting a bike we didn’t hear from them again. We tried to communicate with them but unfortunately, we were unable to.
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“Then on Thursday when the negotiator called them, they said our brother is dead. We thought they were joking.
“They said their own men were arrested by police, tied to a tree and killed. So they vented their anger on our brother because of what the police did to their brother.”
Kefas added: “According to them, Ibrahim had died on Monday and they informed us on Thursday. We asked for his corpse and they said we should pay them N10 million if we want his corpse as they’ll not work for us free of charge.”
The bereaved brother said the bandits swore to release his brother’s body three days after they must have paid the ransom.
When contacted, Mohammed Jalige, spokesman for Kaduna State Police Command said he was in a meeting. As of press time, a text sent to him had not been responded to.
