September 27,2022

Bandits who kidnapped Zainab, a pregnant housewife who gave birth in captivity, and her two sisters in Kaduna State have demanded N50m ransom to be paid within 48 hours.

According to the family of the victims, the bandits gave them 48 hours ultimatum to pay the N50m ransom or receive their corpses.

The family, therefore, begged the government and good Nigerians to help them secure the release of their loved ones, noting that so far they were able to raise N6.5 million.

They told journalists in Kaduna on Monday that although they offered the bandits the said N6.5 million, ” it was vehemently rejected by the bandits

Speaking to journalists, a brother of the kidnapped victims, Kabir Yusuf said he had begged the bandits and told them that the family had sold everything they had in order to raise N6.5million, but the bandits rejected the sum.

”One of my sisters, Zainab who was heavily pregnant when they were kidnapped, gave birth in captivity without recourse to medical or human care for both mother and child. They were subjected to harsh weather conditions, eating and drinking whatever is available in the forest,” he said.

Since they took them away, we have been negotiating with them. The bandits initially demanded N140 million but we pleaded with them that we are poor people, so they reduced it to N100 we pleaded with them further and they later reduced it to N50 million and threatened that if we don’t have the N50 million ready, we should not call them again.

“My sisters cried to me on Sunday that they were being maltreated, that the bandit’s commander want to leave the camp and may not return until after a while so we should talk to them. But I told them that we have sold everything we have but what we raised is not big and we don’t have anything to sell again. They started crying and I cried too.”

Now, the disturbing development is that on Sunday, when I spoke to the bandits I pleaded with them to release my sisters and the new baby, that we have only been able to raise N6.5million. But, they started insulting me. They said if we don’t bring N50million in the next two days, they will kill my sisters and the new baby.

“We are appealing to the Federal Government, Kaduna state government charity organisations, philanthropists and well-spirited individuals to assist us in securing their release. We don’t want anything to happen to them, if anything happens to them only God knows what effect it would have on our mother, who is now in a wheelchair because of their absence,” he said

The three sisters were kidnapped on July 17, 2022, in Mando community Kaduna, at their family house where they came to look after their old mother who had been ill.