•Ransom was paid, despite police, and army claim of rescue, says uncle

Mansur Al-Kadriyar, the father of six girls abducted in the Bwari area council of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has recounted his ordeal while in captivity.

Al-Kadriyar narrated his experience during an interview with Arise TV yesterday.

The father of six girls was abducted alongside his daughters when bandits attacked his residence in Zuma 1, Bwari area of Abuja on January 2.

During the attack, Abdulfatai Al-Kadriyar, Mansur’s younger brother, who led a team of police officers to the location of the attack was killed during a gun battle with the bandits.

Two police officers who engaged the bandits in a shootout were also injured.

The bandits later released the father of the girls to look for the ransom to release his daughters.

Members of the family took to social media to solicit financial support from Nigerians to raise N60 million.

After about two weeks in captivity, the bandits killed Nabeeha, one of the girls, over the inability of the family to pay the ransom demanded.

The abductors reportedly increased the ransom to N100 million and threatened to kill more girls if the money was not paid.

Reacting to the development, the police promised to work on a “comprehensive plan” to ensure the girls and others abducted were rescued.

The remaining five girls regained freedom on Saturday night after spending 18 days in captivity.

‘How they killed my brother’

Speaking during the interview, Al-Kadriyar narrated how the bandits came to his new apartment on January 2 at night.

He said: “It was on January 2. I think I came in around 7 p.m. from town and I moved in immediately to observe my Maghrib prayer.

“I came out after and sat down at the sitting room to relax. I later observed my Ishai prayer but was not feeling too okay to eat dinner, so I asked my daughter to prepare pap (a porridge made from grain) for me.

“I could not take much of the pap, so I went straight to my bedroom. I kept telling my wife I was not feeling too strong. I dozed off after some time and the next thing I heard was some noise and wondered who was banging the gate.

“My children were in their various rooms. The banging on the gate continued. The house is an uncompleted building, I just fixed about three rooms, just for us to move in, it was not up to two months since we moved into the house

“I came out, went to the sitting room and peeped from the window, I saw a man standing outside, it was then I realised they were armed robbers.

“I notified my wife and told her the people outside were armed robbers. My wife and I rushed to the rooms to switch off all the lights, the children had also locked their rooms. I picked up my phone to call either neighbours or anyone for help but I was so confused.

“I later called my brother, Abdulfatai, and told him we were being attacked by armed robbers. He called about 15 minutes later saying he was close to the house.”

Al-Kadriyar said the bandits forced their way into the house, broke the doors and windows and asked for money.

He said he was tied with a rope and watched as the bandits assembled his daughters.

“When I noticed my brother was driving in, I was happy, he was the one that led the police to that community. When I sighted his car, they had already positioned themselves.

“They immediately told us to lay down and I told my children to obey and lay down. Three of the armed men went to a building nearby, it is a fenced building and they broke all the security lights in that house and then started firing at the police officers.

“I saw my brother driving out, he didn’t know they were close to that house, so, I believe while he was trying to reverse, they must have shot him.

“The police vehicle also got stuck, so he could not reverse. They continued to exchange bullets, and after a few minutes, both of them stopped, I think the police stopped and couldn’t advance further.

“It was then I knew they must have injured my brother or the police. They then asked us to get up, went back to the village and took another route,” he recounted.

He added that the bandits asked if he was a soldier while in captivity and told him they needed money.

“I was at their camp when all these ransom issues were coming up. That night when we went through the bush, it took about eight hours and 30 minutes of working together with my children, I was not wearing any slippers, I was wearing a short and a sports shirt.

“While walking into the bush, there was one among them who was friendly with us, ‘ I told him Aboki, what do you want? Don’t treat me like this’. He was trying to speak Yoruba, he said Money, you have money?”

“Then they got to a hill, fetched some firewood and prepared their food there that night. At that time, they asked me to kneel down, and one of them came to me and asked ‘do you have N3million? I said, ‘where do you expect me to get that?’

‘Daddy, please don’t let them kill us.’

“The guy that I picked as a friend was telling me ‘bros, cooperate with oga, oga will release you so that you will go and look for the money’. I told him I don’t have money and I’m a civil servant.

“I just moved into that house not up to two months. Before we moved in, I explained to my children that the sitting room was not furnished and that we would need to just manage. We have been staying in a rented apartment for a long time.

“He asked me to go and sit down and relax. After a few minutes, the leader asked me to come, I knelt down before him and he asked ‘are you a soldier?’ I said no, ‘I am just a civil servant, the house you see me occupying is for my brother and it is not yet completed.

“He said okay. One of them came from the back and hit me in the back. They said how much can I raise? I told them I can try to raise N2 million. They said I have not yet negotiated.

“They asked me to count my children and think about their number, My children started saying, daddy, please don’t allow them to kill us.

“They (bandits) started talking about N5 million to N10 million, I said where will I get N10 million from?

Despite police, army claim of rescue operation, uncle says ransom was paid

Meanwhile, a family member of the Al-Kadriyar sisters abducted by bandits in Abuja has said ransom was paid to facilitate their release.“Quoting Sheriff Al-Kadriyar, the girls’ uncle yesterday, the BBC reported that neither the police nor the army played a role in the release of the sisters.

The uncle said a ransom was paid and the kidnappers dropped the girls in a forest for them to be collected.

The girls were “released around midnight of Saturday.”

However, a police statement signed by PPRO, Josephine Adeh, on Sunday had said: “the relentless advancement of the Federal Capital Territory Police Command Anti-Kidnapping squad in a concerted effort with troops of the Nigerian Army” was responsible for the freedom of the sisters.

“The operatives successfully rescued the victims around Kajuru forest in Kaduna state at about 11:30 pm on Saturday 20th January 2024.’

Sheriff said the family went to collect the girls after a ransom was paid but did not, however, disclose how much was paid as ransom.

“There’s nothing like rescue on this matter, we paid ransom, even though I can’t disclose how much for security reasons.

“The kidnappers chose the day and the location we were to pick up the girls about four or five days after ransom payment,” he told BBC Yoruba.

Sheriff added that a group of male relatives then headed to the Kajuru forest in neighbouring Kaduna state to find the girls.

He said it was on their way they stumbled upon an army unit and requested help, adding that the army officers escorted them to find the girls, and took them all home by around 11;30 p.m.

“We are happy and we thank God that the girls were found alive,” Sheriff said.

The uncle said the intention of the family’s account was not to discredit the police but to clarify how the girls were freed. (Vanguard)

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