Bandits have released the abducted wife of the Village Head of Gwombe in Gwargwada Chiefdom in Kuje Area Council of the FCT and five others after collecting N6 million as part payment and held down the remaining two victims in their captivity.
City & Crime had reported that bandits on November 20, 2023, abducted eight women, including the village chief’s wife, from a farm.
A family member of some of the released victims who preferred anonymity confirmed the release of the chief’s wife alongside the five others through telephone to our reporter on Monday.
He said the bandits’ leader insisted that relatives of the victims must pay a bN12m ransom.
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He further said, “But after the man who was negotiating with them begged for almost a week, their leader later accepted N6m and held down the remaining two victims, insisting that until the remaining N6m was presented to them.”
According to him, after intensive negotiation since the victims were abducted, the bandits later ordered the victims’ relations to raise N1.5 million for each of the victims.
He said the chief’s wife and the five other victims were released last Friday evening in a forest between the FCT and Nasarawa State.
He added, “In fact, the bandits’ leader said that he decided to consider releasing the victims because of recharge cards worth N12,000 that were purchased for them by relatives of the victims.”
There was no response from the spokeswoman of the FCT Police Command, SP Adeh Josephine, on the release of the victims.
