Police Lied, We Negotiated with Kidnappers, Paid Full Ransom, Say Families of 3 Abducted ABU Students

Malik Yahya/

The families of the three students of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State, who were among the six victims abducted by kidnappers along Kaduna-Abuja Expressway on Monday, have faulted media reports that they were rescued by the police.

The Kaduna State Police Command in a statement yesterday by its Public Relations Officers, DSP Yakubu Sabo, had claimed that its operatives rescued three students.

The command also said that the remaining three victims were still being held by the kidnappers.

But one Sadiq Ango, who claimed to be a relation of one of the victims, said in tweet yesterday evening that the police did not play any role in the rescue effort.

According to him, the families of the three students negotiated directly with the kidnappers and paid the agreed ransom before the victims were released yesterday.

Ango, who was reacting to another tweet of the claim by the police, wrote: “Lies… It took us 48 long hours of negotiations with the kidnappers to secure the release of our sister to us, NOT the police. Ransom was paid in full as negotiated with the three families involved.”

The statement by the police further reads in part: “The Command wishes to state that, on the said date, August 26, at about 18:50hrs, Armed Men in Military Uniform intercepted some commuters near Masari Village along Kaduna-Abuja Expressway, opened fire on the vehicles, in the process kidnaped six persons.

“However, due to the prompt response of the Police and other security agents to the scene, three people were later released by the hoodlums due to intensive combing within the general area.

“The three students alongside the abandoned vehicles at the scene of the incident, were moved to the Police Station.”

The command also assured that concerted efforts were being coordinated by the joint teams of Anti-Kidnapping Unit, PMF and the IRT to rescue the remaining three victims and apprehend the perpetrators.

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