17th November, 2020
Twelve Police officers, all assistant superintendents(ASPs) have been abducted in north west Nigeria.
The men were on their way to Zamfara from Borno state, forr a special operation, when they were abducted 10 days ago.
The story of their kidnap surfaced today in a BBC Hausa Service report.
According to the report, the men were abducted by gunmen in a village between Katsina and Zamfara states.
The wife of one of the police officers told the BBC that when she didn’t hear from her husband for three days, she went to the Borno State police barracks to find out his whereabouts.
It was there she learnt from two officers, who escaped the kidnapping that her husband and nine others have been abducted.
She added that she later got a phone call from her husband but only briefly, where he explained to her the situation in the hands of their captors.
“He called me on Wednesday and told me that he was in the hands of the kidnappers”.
The woman said her husband instructed her to borrow N1million, using his house as collateral
“Please try to get my house secured for at least N1 million as soon as possible otherwise there will be trouble”, the kidnapped police officer told the wife.
She said she had not heard from her husband since, but has been telephoned by a police officer, to get the ransom money quickly.
According to her, the kidnappers are demanding N800,000 from each of their preys.
“We just can’t sleep until God’s prayers bring them out safely.”
“That officers were abducted together speaks volumes on the extremely scary situation developing in the northwest”, said Bulama Bukarti, a lawyer and analyst on Tuesday.
“If police officers in police convoy could be abducted, what more of ordinary Nigerians with no arms, training or equipment? It’s clear that we are playing with fire”, he added in a tweet.