On Monday, a government employee named Mr. Surajudeen Olasinde described how his wife, Mrs. Mistura, and two daughters, Hauwa and Fatima, were abducted in the Galadima District of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
A member of the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA), Olasinde, claimed that the incident happened on Friday, September 8, when his wife and children were returning home in their Toyota Highlander from Garki to Starwood Estate, where they live.
“On their way from Garki, they were abducted last Friday at around 7 o’clock. The kidnappers attacked them as soon as they arrived at Kabusa Garden Estate, at a location where the road was really terrible.
Before marching individuals into the jungle, “they started shooting to frighten people away,” he claimed.
Residents of the neighbourhood, according to him, called the Divisional Police Station at Galadimawa as soon as they heard the news, and DPO Mr. Jerry Cole organised a team of his officers to search the bushes alongside members of the vigilante group.
However, he said that the search attempt was fruitless.
Olasinde, a native of Offa in Kwara, claimed he wasn’t present when the incident took place.
I was transferred to Kwara State, so I wasn’t in Abuja when it happened. However, I was informed that, despite their best efforts, the vigilantes and police scoured the bush until 3 a.m. on Saturday.
The Department of State Services (DSS) personnel were also contacted. The search team located a woodland in Kuje after following the kidnappers’ movements, he said.
Olasinde, who landed in Abuja on Saturday, claimed that their captors demanded a N100 million ransom over the phone from his brother-in-law. They demanded N100,000,000. Later, they reduced it to N50 million and then to N10. But at the end of the day, they questioned us about our personal belongings.
“Even worse, the kidnappers threatened to sell my wife and my two girls’ body parts for more money than we claimed to have if they killed us.
He remarked somberly, “We had to resort to begging, asking them not to injure or kill my family.
He claims that when we informed them we were strapped for cash and they inquired about the Toyota Highlander, we replied that it was one of the items we had to sell to raise the funds we would be giving them.
The kidnappers told them to bring the ransom Saturday night, according to Olasinde, who said they were able to raise roughly N2.8 million.
They instructed us to bring the money on Saturday night, about 8:00 p.m. My brother-in-law and I climbed the same bike to deliver the ransom after they instructed us to go to Kabusa Village and pick up any Okada rider (commercial motorcycle) at a location we were unfamiliar with. They emerged and collected the ransom when we arrived in the dense forest where they were hiding. They received N2 million and N840, 000 from us. My wife and daughters arrived at the spot where we waited for them after about 40 minutes.
He explained, “So we pleaded with the Okada rider to take my wife and girls home and to come back and fetch us too.
Regarding how his wife and daughters were doing, he remarked that aside from the physical stress they had experienced, they were doing just fine.
He said that for medical reasons, they were sent to a hospital.
Olasinde, who was discouraged by the entire situation, requested assistance from President Bola Tinubu and the Minister of the FCT, Mr. Nyesom Wike.
He claims that there have been other kidnapping cases in our neighbourhood before this one.
The Chairman of the Residents of Starwood Estate, Mr. Kayode Adedoyin, also spoke and listed other kidnapping incidents that had happened nearby.
He urged the FCT minister to take all appropriate action to improve their quality of life.
The DPO of Galadimawa, Mr. Cole, refused to engage with the media when NAN reached him on the phone to inquire about the event.
He instructed the journalist to speak with Josephine Adeh, the FCT Police PRO.
Adeh claimed to be oblivious to the kidnapping when she was contacted by phone.
However, she vowed to contact NAN as soon as she had more information regarding the incident, but as of the time the report was submitted, she had not yet done so. (NAN)
