*Army, Police Claim Rescue *Family Says Paid Ransom
MEMBERS of the Al-Kadriyar family, whose daughters were recently freed, have disclosed that they actually paid ransom to the bandits to secure the release of five of the six girls out of the many kidnapped on January 2, last year in the Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The bandits had killed four of the victims last week, remaining the 19 that were finally freed over the weekend.
Family sources dismissed reports by the FCT Police and the Nigerian Army that the girls and other victims were rescued in joint operations.
Abbas Al-Kadriyar, who picked up the girls from the forest, according to reports, insisted: “We paid a ransom for the release of our girls. A ransom was paid and the Police were not involved.
“The children called me and I went to pick them up. On my way, I saw soldiers at the junction and the bush is a very thick bush along the Gurara Dam, so I had to call the attention of the soldiers to follow me to the spot where we could locate our children.”
Recall that the FCT Police Command Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh, said the victims were rescued by the Commands’ anti-kidnapping squad, in a joint effort with troops of the Nigerian Army, rescued the girls.
She said in a statement: “Following the relentless advancement of the FCT Police Command Anti-kidnapping squad, in a concerted effort with troops of the Nigerian Army, on the heels of the kidnappers that struck the Zuma 1 area in the Bwari Area Council on January 2, 2024, the FCT Police has rescued the victims and reunited them with their families.
“The operatives successfully rescued the victims around Kajuru Forest in Kaduna State about 11:30 pm on Saturday, January 20, 2024.”
Nigerian police say they have successfully rescued five sisters who were held hostage after being kidnapped in the country’s capital.
But the role of the Police is being called to question by a counter-terrorism/insurgency expert familiar with such military operations, Zagazola Makama, who said: “The operation, which took place on January 20, was carried out by the Nigerian Army’s 197 Special Forces Battalion.
“Troops involved in the operation have provided a comprehensive account backed with pictorial evidence embedded with coordinate data of the rescue mission near Gurara Dam in Kachia Local Government Area, which was based on intelligence received at 2200 hours (10pm).”
Makama stated that the troops swiftly responded and located 12 individuals- three adult females, two female children and seven male children- who had been left by their captors.
“The Army’s intervention was prompt and precise, with the military personnel dominating the area and ensuring the safety of the rescued parties.
“Furthermore, the report from the Army indicates that the troops encountered an ambush by suspected bandits while returning with the rescued individuals. Despite the sudden attack, the soldiers managed to suppress the threat without incurring any casualty among, both the rescue team and the victims.”
He disclosed that the Army handed over the rescued abductees to the Police to reuniting them with their respective families, quoting an unnamed military officer as saying: “We have all the pictorial evidence, marked with coordinates, to show the time and location of the rescue, which we have shared.
“No doubt, we are all serving one nation and our core mandate is safeguarding the citizens, but it is highly demoralising for our troops to hear that in an operation in which they came under deadly ambush, someone will dismiss their efforts by claiming that it was an operation conducted by the Police anti-kidnapping squad in a joint effort with the Army.
“Handing over rescued victims of abduction to civilian Police cannot be described as a joint operation, for God’s sake.”
The military and higher Police authorities have not commented on the circumstances that led to the rescue of the victims.
The Al-Kadriyar girls were abducted from their home in Abuja along with another sister, who was later killed over the family’s alleged inability and delay in paying the ransom demanded.
Their father, Mansoor Al-Kadriyar, was released to source for the N65million ransom, and their uncle rallied round to raise some of the funds, was to ambushed and killed, along with three policemen. One of the girls, Nabeeha, a 21-year-old final year university student, was killed as a warning.
This elicited widespread anger and condemnation across the country, with many joint crowdfunding efforts to raise the ransom and get the girls freed.
But Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, kicked against the move, saying it would “only worse the situation.”
He added: “We believe we have to stop, as painful as it is. We have to stop responding to payment on ransom. If we stop, over time, the kidnapping will not be profitable and they will stop.
“The security agencies are working very hard to push them out and block the movements and finish them off once and for all.”
Even though payment of ransom is prohibited in Nigeria, many victims’ families and associates still pay to get their loved ones release, especially as they do not trust or rely on the security agencies/agents to secure the release of the victims.
Similarly, seven residents abducted from Sagwari Estate in the same area council have been released.
Gunmen had raided the estate around 8pm on Sunday, January 14 and abducted 10 residents, whose families were given a deadline to pay ransom or have their loved ones murdered.
The abductors later killed Talatu Salihu, a 500 -level student of Library and Information Science, Bayero University Kano (BUK), a staff of a hotel in the estate, Akpagher Joseph Terzungwe, and 13-year-old Mitchell Ariyo, after which they increased the ransom for the remaining victims.
