NEARLY 100 PEOPLE KIDNAPPED BY GUNMEN IN NIGERIA OVER THE WEEKEND

FILE PHOTO

Tue 19 March 2024:

After an armed group took 286 students and staff hostage from a school earlier this month, gunmen in Nigeria are said to have abducted at least 87 individuals in a fresh attack, according to locals and police.

According to officials on Monday, women and children were among those kidnapped in the attack, which happened in Kaduna state’s Kajuru district.

On Monday, Kaduna police spokesperson Mansur Hassan said the Kajuru incident happened on Sunday night, adding that security agents have been deployed to rescue the villagers.

“They went and removed people from their homes at gunpoint,” local official Ibrahim Gajere told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

Residents said armed men dressed in army uniforms arrived in the village undetected because they had parked their motorbikes away from the village.

Village head Tanko Wada Sarkin said 87 people were taken.

In Nigeria, victims of kidnapping are frequently set free following negotiations with the government; however, a law enacted in 2022 forbids giving money to kidnappers, and authorities dispute charges of ransom payments.

“We have so far recorded the return of five people back home who fled through the bush. This attack makes it five times that these bandits have attacked this community,” Sarkin told the Reuters news agency.

Aruwa Ya’u, another resident, said he was captured but later released by the gunmen because he struggled to walk due to his poor health. He was receiving treatment at a local government clinic, he said.

“We were outside our homes chatting around 10:30pm [21:30 GMT], and suddenly bandits appeared, beating and shooting,” Haruna Atiku said. His wife and two daughters are missing.

On Saturday, 16 people were kidnapped in the Dogon Noma area, about 10km (6 miles) away, officials said.

Families and towns are being torn apart by the kidnappings, which force people to pool their funds in order to pay the ransoms. This frequently means selling valuables like grain, animals, and property in order to secure the return of loved ones.

According to SBM Intelligence, a risk consultancy based in Nigeria, 4,777 persons have been kidnapped since Tinubu took office in May.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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