Gunmen: reject N20 million ransom for kidnapped chief, two wives in Niger

The Zungeru community, Wushishi Local Government Area, Niger says bandits have rejected N20 million ransom to free a chief kidnapped in the community and his two wives.

The Village Head of Zungeru, Alhaji Aliyu Tanko, revealed this during a courtesy visit by the VSF in Wushishi on Monday to the community.

He appealed for financial assistance from the Victims Support Fund (VSF) to meet up the N100 million ransom he said the bandits were insisting on for the released of the kidnapped chief and his two wives.

The VSF is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) based in Abuja with TY Danjuma as the Chairman of the humanitarian body.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the abductors attacked the town around 1:40 a.m. on June 6 and went straight to the house of the Chief, Madakin Zungeru, Malam Al-Mustapha Abdullahi.

The abductors went to the house located in the heart of the town and captured him from the room of one of the wives.

The operation according to the neighbours lasted for about 30 minutes without any assistance from any quarter.

Tanko explained that Abdullahi wore night gown and his two wives had only wrappers around them when the incident occurred.

“In fact one of his wives is still breastfeeding a baby,” he said.

The village head broke down in tears saying, “Please we want you to support us financially because this is a farming period, we don’t have cash now.

“The kidnappers demanded for N100 million to free them but we have been able to raise N20 million and they refused.

“We don’t know what else to do because they said that by 4:00pm today if the community is not able to fulfill their demand they will kill the victims’’.

He further said that one of the greatest problem of the community was informants of the suspected bandits, who monitored every move and report back to them.

Responding, Prof. Nana Tanko, Executive Director, VSF, said that the NGO would report back to its Chairman, retired Lt.-Gen. Theophilus Danjuma for consideration.

“Our chairman is a compassionate person, we will report back to him for consideration,” she said.