There was relief for the family members of residents abducted in the Dei-Dei and Mpape communities of Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, following the release of 18 people kidnapped from the two areas.
The father of four of the victims from Dei-Dei, Mustapha Teidei, said his four daughters were among the 16 released victims on Saturday evening, exactly after three weeks in captivity.
He said the children regained their freedom after payment of N5 million ransom to their kidnappers, who equally collected similar amounts from other family members of their victims.
Teidei added that the relatives of the victims took the ransoms themselves to a location near Tafa town along the Abuja-Kaduna Highway on Friday, while the victims were released on the outskirts of Bwari town in the FCT, the following day.
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Mai Unguwan Dei-Dei, Ibrahim Galadima, confirmed the release of the victims to our reporter.
He, however, added that two other victims from the area, a retired military captain and a serving police officer were still with the bandits out of the 23 abducted persons.
Also contacted, the Sarkin Fili in Mpape community, Peter David, who was also released just last week, said two people from his area, a woman and a boy, were among the freed persons along with that of the Dei-Dei residents, following the ransom payment by their families.
He lamented that his three children and two other residents were the only victims still in captivity out of about nine residents abducted from his area a month ago over failure by their respected family members to pay ransom.
When contacted, the FCT police command spokeswoman, SP Josephine Adeh, promised to get back. But she was yet to do so at the time of filing this report last night.