Pregnant woman, toddlers still in captivity — more than 70 days after abduction in Abuja

A pregnant woman, her one-and-a-half-year-old son, two siblings and two adults abducted from the Kuduru extension layout in the Bwari area council of Abuja have spent over 70 days in captivity.

Bandits attacked the community on the border of Abuja, the nation’s capital in Bwari with Niger state on December 28, 2023, and whisked away seven residents.

On February 23, the bandits executed one of the abductees. The victim, Olayinka Ogunyemi, was killed after members of the families of the hostages failed to pay the N290 million demanded as ransom.

A community source who did not want to be named for his safety said the bandits called to break the news of the execution of Ogunyemi, a civil engineer.

The source said the bandits threatened to kill the remaining captives if N230 million was not made available as ransom.

“We have already paid N23 million and sent food and other items they demanded but none of our people has been released,” he said.

“We are scared and helpless now that they will not kill the pregnant woman and her child, the two siblings and the two men.

“We are appealing to the federal government, the police and the army to step up efforts to rescue our people because their abductors said Nigeria has offended them and they would retaliate.”

He gave the names of those being held as Godwin Rachel (pregnant woman), Godwin Dominic (her son), Austin Buremo, Hassan Usman and Hassan Faosiya (siblings) and Bako Azeez.

‘N20M, FOUR MOTORCYCLES DEMANDED AS RANSOM’

Despite receiving N23 million without releasing any of the hostages, the bandits have made fresh demands from the families of the victims.

A member of the community who has been involved in negotiation with the abductors told TheCable that they have reduced the ransom from N290 million to N20 million.

“They have asked us to look for N20 million and four brand new motorcycles for them to release our people,” he said.

“The price of the brand of the motorcycles they are demanding is N1.8 million each. That is where we are now.

“We are seriously looking for the money to secure their release because they have been there since December 28, 2023, which is more than 70 days now.

“We have a pregnant woman and her little son that is not more than one and a half-year-old, two siblings that are between the ages nine and seven and two adults, who are with them after they had killed the third adult.”

Efforts to reach Josephine Adeh, FCT police spokesperson, for comment, were unsuccessful as she did not respond to calls and messages.

Also, Wasiu Abiodun, the police spokesperson in Niger state, did not respond to calls and messages.