A 36-year-old man, Abdullahi Sheriff, whose wife and two children were kidnapped in his residence on Friday evening in Lokoja, has cried out to the state government and security agencies to rescue his wife, who has just been discharged from the hospital, and his five-year-old son.

The Guardian reports that a family of four was abducted by gunmen in a midnight attack on the family residence in Zone 12, Zango community, in Adavi Local Government Area (LGA) of Kogi State.

Narrating his ordeal while speaking with newsmen on Sunday, Sheriff, who is a struggling young man, said, “I had to go and obtain a loan to complete part of his house due to the pressures from my landlord, who has jerked up the rent.

With the loan, I managed to complete a part and moved to the new house on 18 December last year with my family.

“I had hardly settled down in my new house when some strange men invaded my house in my absence.

They were shooting sporadically towards my house. I ran straight to the Vigilante Office in Zango but was asked to go and report first at the police station, which I did immediately.

But I also found the police were helpless.

I had no option than to run back to the Vigilante people.

“I again raced back to the Vigilante Office, and they told me that they could not act except their oga gave them an order to do so.

I was there for more than 30 minutes trying to call their oga to no avail while the kidnappers were still in my house shooting sporadically.

“At last, the Army came in, but it was already late. My senior wife, Abidat Sheriff, 35 years old, who was just discharged from the hospital on Wednesday, was abducted with my daughter, Zainab Sheriff, who is one year eight months old, and my five-year-old son, Mubarak.

Mubarak was abducted naked, without any clothes or shoes on him.

“The Army then traced the kidnappers into the forest. I followed them, and we were seeing some torchlights on the mountain, which made the leader of the Army urge them to pursue vigorously.

But suddenly, we started hearing another sporadic gunfire at our back and paused to trace where the gunfire was coming from, only to discover it was another group of vigilantes firing shots.

“This actually distracted us, as the Army could not trace anything again, which made them suspend the pursuit till the following day.

“However, when I waited in the morning without seeing anyone, I and some of my friends went inside the forest to comb the area for more than five hours before I was called by the police to come home and give my statement.

“”Meanwhile, some people drew our attention to an uncomplicated building along the bush path where they had dumped Zainab, my one-year-eight-month-old daughter, who had cried and cried right in that area where there are dangerous snakes.

“Also speaking to newsmen, the second wife, Mrs Faiza Aliba Sheriff, who was in the house when the kidnappers came, said she was saved by mother luck, as she had just gone into the inner room to prepare the food of her sucking baby when the kidnappers invaded their parlour.

She said immediately after they entered, she put off the light, held the mouth of her baby tightly, and lay under the bed, stressing that her firstborn, a three-year-old named Nazirat, was also abducted, but she kept on crying ferociously before they became angered and threw her out of the window.

Faiza said she later managed to escape through the back door, where she saw one of the children hiding in the store, fidgeting, adding that she had to crawl with the children into the thick darkness, running far away from the house before a good Samaritan took them into his house till daybreak.

Sheriff, who broke down and wept profusely, called on the office of the National Security Adviser to provide helicopters and drones to trace the kidnappers and also called on the army and other security agencies to do all they can to rescue his wife and child, who have spent two days in captivity.

Meanwhile, as of the time of filing this report, the kidnappers had not called to demand any ransom, and neither the police nor the state government had made any statement over the incident. (The Guardian)

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