A tailor and father of four children abducted in Barakallahu community in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Abdulsalam Haruna, has narrated how the report of his abducted wife and children published by the Daily Trust newspapers aided in their rescue two months later.
Haruna said a military operation led by a former Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Major General Adeniyi Oyebade, comprising senior officers, both serving and retired, in the Nigerian Army and Air Force (NAF), rescued his children unhurt and saved him from raising the ransom demanded by the kidnappers.
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Daily Trust had published several reports of how Haruna’s four children; Muhammad Mustapha Abdulsalam, Hauwa Abdulsalam, Muhammad Abdulsalam and Ummul-Khairi Abdulsalam together with their mother, Hajara Abdulsalam, were abducted from their Barakallahu home by gunmen on September 18.
The kidnappers had demanded N100 million for each of the victims as ransom but, on September 24, released Haruna’s wife, Hajara, for allegedly making recitations of ‘La illa ha illallah’ and reduced the ransom to N10 million for the four children.
Abdulsalam Haruna who visited the Kaduna office of Daily Trust to express his gratitude yesterday said: “Major General Oyebade called me after he saw a report in Daily Trust about the kidnap of my children. He asked for the numbers used by the kidnappers to contact me and the rest is history. Today, I am united with my children. I kept praying to Allah to touch the hearts of the kidnappers to release my children since I could not, in any way, raise the millions demanded by them.”
He said such gallantry exhibited by the soldiers was a proof that the Nigerian military is working as he never paid money to secure his children’s release. “I am extremely grateful to General Oyebade because he called other military officers to rescue my children. I am highly privileged,” he said.
He also commended the Daily Trust newspaper for the reports on his plight and appealed to the government to provide the military with adequate support so as to sustain the onslaught on terrorists and bandits across the country. “They should be motivated and given tools to secure lives and property,” he said.
