Armed bandits have abducted the village head of Rakyabu in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State, Magaji Sa’idu, and the Chief Imam of the village, Malam Abdullahi.
The incident happened last Wednesday when the terrorists invaded the community.
Although police authorities in the state are yet to confirm the latest abductions.
“I am not aware of the incident, I just returned to the state from an official engagement, I will contact the DPO of Tsafe and I will get back to you,” the spokesperson of Zamfara State Police Command, Yazid Abubakar, told Channels Television.
But a resident of the area, who pleaded anonymity for security reasons, said the bandits had contacted the community, demanding N5 million as ransom.
According to him, the community had launched an appeal fund since the incident happened and could only raise N500,000. He said the bandits had collected the N500,000 and refused to release the two abducted persons.
“They said we must balance the remaining N4.5 million, they did not release the captives even till now,” he said.
“We are soliciting support from relevant authorities to assist us in getting the captives to regain their freedom, we have tried our best since last week.”
Bandits have long terrorised some North-West and North-Central states, operating from bases deep in forests and raiding villages to loot and kidnap residents for ransom.
In the North-East, jihadists have been pushed back from the territory they held at the height of the conflict, though they continue to fight on in rural areas.
More than 40,000 people have been killed and two million displaced since 2009 in that conflict.
Credit: channelstv.com
