16 people from Kaduna’s Gonin Gora neighbourhood were kidnapped by bandits, who are requesting N40 trillion in ransom to free them.
This was revealed by local community leader John Yusuf in a phone interview conducted in Kaduna on Monday.
According to Yusuf, the bandits demanded N40 trillion, 11 Hilux vans, and 150 brand-new motorcycles in exchange for the victims’ release.
“We’ve been approached by the bandits. They are requesting the release of 16 individuals they are holding captive in exchange for N40 trillion, 11 Hilux vehicles, and 150 motorcycles.
“Where are we going to find money this large? We are not able to raise N40 trillion, not even if we sell the entire town. According to Yusuf, Nigeria has never created a budget of N40 trillion as a whole.
According to the community chairman, the bandits attacked the area twice in a week.
“Two abductions occurred in a span of four days,” he stated.
He said, “Three people were kidnapped in the first raid, and thirteen more were abducted in the second attack, for a total of sixteen people being kept captive.
He bemoaned the thick undergrowth encircling the neighbourhood and the state’s Birnin Gwari Local Government Area and demanded the deployment of a military base there to monitor the criminals’ operations.
We are appealing to the government to intervene on our behalf and set up a military post behind our neighbourhood, where the bandits use the shrubs as cover to attack us.
“There is a length of bush from our community down to Birnin Gwari, which is over 150 km away.
Additionally, there is a bushy area extending from Gonin Gora to Niger state.
“So when the criminals are able to freely enter our community through the bushes. The leaders of the village begged the authorities to assist them.
Yusuf gave the Nigerian Army credit for keeping the bandits under control.
“The army is really trying, even though they are severely overstretched,” he remarked. They respond to our distressed calls every time.
“But the issue is that the bandits would have fulfilled their demands and left before they arrived in the community.”
The leaders of the community also urged the federal and state governments to act decisively to halt the threat, warning that “if not, it will consume all of us.”
On Wednesday, February 28, robbers broke into the Anguwan Auta settlement in Gonin Gora, killing two and kidnapping three.
The thieves were reported to have returned to the area and kidnapped 13 persons about four days later.
Hundreds of young people in the region blocked the main Kaduna-Abuja highway as it passes through Gonin Gora in protest at the initial incident.