Victims of last Thursday kidnapping in Avuya ward of Gupa – Abugi community in the Lapai Local Government Area of Niger State on Sunday regained their freedom after paying N1.7 ransom.
It was learnt that the five victims were accompanied by the kidnappers to the back of their village and were set free at about 1am.
A source disclosed that the victims were taken across River Gurara into Kogi State before they negotiated with victims’ families.
From the ransom collected, the victims’ captors gave them N10,000 to enable them to buy slippers for themselves before they were released to join their families.
The source, who spoke on behalf of one of the victims, said they (victims) were kept in a cave after walking for hours throughout the night of the incident and guarded strictly while in captivity.
“We paid N1.7m in cash; they escorted us back to the backyard of our village and they set us free at around 1am. They took us across River Gurara to go into Kogi State through deep forest. We trekked for hours before they took us to one cave and started negotiating with our families.
“They also gave us from the ransom collected a sum of N10,000 to enable us to buy slippers as we were released to join their families,” the victim said.
Recall that last Thursday, a group of gunmen struck in Avu community, Gupa- Abugi ward of Lapai LGA of Niger, killing one and abducting five persons in the process.
The attackers, according to source, stormed the village in their numbers, attacked the community in the early hourly of Thursday (1am) and opened fire on large number of people who were scampering for safety upon seeing them.
Narrating, a member of the village, Idris Musa, said, “The gunmen arrived in the village around 1am, in large number and upon seeing them, people were scampering for safety as they were shooting indiscriminately; one person was killed and six people were kidnapped.”
Musa added that the vigilantes upon seeing the situation tried their best but could not get police backup as of the time of the attack.
However, several calls to the state Police Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Wasiu, were not answered.
Also, a text message to the state police spokesman was not answered as of the time of filing this report.
