Kidnap Victim: A staff member of the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority, Surajudeen Olasinde, has revealed how he paid two point eight million naira in ransom to rescue his wife and two daughters from kidnappers.
Olasehinde revealed this to newsmen while narrating how his wife and daughters were kidnapped. According to him, his wife, Mistura Olasehinde, and their two daughters, Hauwa and Fatima, were abducted on Friday, September 8, 2023 on their way home in Abuja.
“Their abduction happened around 7 pm last Friday on their way from Garki. Immediately they reached Kabusa Garden Estate at the spot where the road was terribly bad, the kidnappers came out from the nearby bush and attacked them. They started shooting to scare people away before they marched them into the bush,” Olasinde said.
He narrated further that residents contacted the Galadimawa Divisional Police Officer, Jerry Cole, who led a team of police officers and vigilantes to search the bushes. He said the search effort was, however, unfruitful.
Olasehinde said although he was away when the incident occurred, residents informed him of the development and the result of the search.
“I was not in Abuja when it happened but I was told that the police and the vigilantes searched the bush all through till 3 a.m. on Saturday without success. We also contacted officers of the Department of State Services. They tracked the kidnappers’ movement and the search got to a forest in Kuje,” he said.
Narrating further, Olasehinde said the kidnappers contacted his brother-in-law to demand a ransom of ₦100 million which was later reduced.
“They asked for ₦100 million but later reduced it to ₦50 million and then ₦10 million. But at the end of the day, they asked us how much we had with us.”
He also said the captors threatened to kill his wife and children and trade their body parts. Olasehinde said the kidnappers proposed that they sell the Toyota highlander his wife was driving when they were attacked.
“The kidnappers even told us that if they killed my wife and my two daughters, they could sell their body parts above whatever amount we had. We resorted to begging, pleading with them not to harm or kill my family.”
He revealed that they were able to raise N2.840 million, which they took to the kidnappers on their instruction.
“They directed us to bring the money around 8 pm on Saturday. They told us to go to Kabusa Village and pick any Okada rider to a place where we did not know. My brother-in-law and I climbed the same bike to deliver the ransom. When we got to the thick forest where they were, they came out, collected the ransom. We gave them N2 Million and N840,000.
“It took about 40 minutes before my wife and daughters got to the point where we waited for them. So we begged the Okada rider to take my wife and daughters home, and to come back and pick us too,” he narrated.
Olasehinde called on President Bola Tinubu and the Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, to come to their aid, noting his wife and children were experiencing psychological trauma.
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The spokesperson for the FCT Police Command, SP Josephine Adeh, said the command was yet to be briefed about the event. She promised to give an update as soon as she got the brief.