Abducted Abuja transporter released after ransom payment

Kidnappers of the Abuja-based transporter, Alhaji Salisu Danfulani, who was abducted on Sunday night from Mpape community in Bwari Area Council of the FCT, have released him after collecting a N40 million ransom. City & Crime reports that the victim was abducted from the Tipper garage area of the town moments after the last Muslim […]

Kidnappers of the Abuja-based transporter, Alhaji Salisu Danfulani, who was abducted on Sunday night from Mpape community in Bwari Area Council of the FCT, have released him after collecting a N40 million ransom.

City & Crime reports that the victim was abducted from the Tipper garage area of the town moments after the last Muslim prayer of the day.

The imam of a mosque where he had gone to pray, Ahmad Maidara, was reportedly shot dead during the attack.

Another resident was also said to have been shot on his hand by the gunmen as they were fleeing with the victim through a nearby rocky terrain.

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A relative of the transporter, who preferred to remain anonymous, while disclosing the development to our reporter yesterday, said the victim was released in a bush, located at the back of Mogadishu cantonment area in the FCT.

He said: “We took the money to the location around 11pm of Tuesday and waited for them there for hours. It later took us until about 2am before arriving at the main road where we parked our vehicle, and took him straight to the hospital.’’

He said in the course of raising the money, their brother, who was discharged from hospital recently, had to sell two of his trucks at a give-away to raise the amount demanded.

The National President of the Nigeria Union of Mine Workers (NUMW), Comrade Hamza Muhammad, confirmed the release of the transporter, who is also a member of the union.

He said the incident had caused fear among their members who used to source sand in the bush, urging security agencies to comb bushes in the axis, which according to him is not far from the military barracks.

The FCT police command’s spokeswoman, SP Josephine Adeh, couldn’t be reached for comment on the incident.