Bandits place N50m ransom on kidnapped FCT district head, 5 others

The kidnappers of the district head of Pandan-Gwari alongside five subjects in Kawu ward of Bwari Area Council have demanded N50 million for the release of the victims.

City & crime had reported that bandits, on December 26, 2023, invaded the palace of the district head and whisked him away alongside five of his subjects at gunpoint.

A source to the kidnapped district head who preferred anonymity told our reporter on Tuesday that some relations of the district head after establishing contact with the bandits, the bandits’ leader demanded the N50 million ransom.

He said the negotiation of the ransom was between one of the relations of the district head, who he said was still pleading with the bandits to bring down the ransom to a level the relations could afford. 

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“I think the last conversation the man had with the bandits’ leader was on Friday, in which the latter still stood his ground on the N50 million, and since then, they haven’t called again,” he said.

In a related development, the seven kidnapped farmers at Achimbi community in Kuje Area Council of the FCT have regained their freedom after payment of N6 million cash by relatives of the victims.

City & crime also reported that bandits on 12 December, 2023 abducted nine farmers at their farms, in which two were said to have escaped the next day from their abductors’ den.

A family member of one of the victims, simply identified as John Baba, said the victims were freed last Thursday, around 5:pm at a forest which he said borders FCT and Nasarawa State.