In the Kolo village of Gusau Local Government Area in Zamfara State, bandits kidnapped four persons but refused to accept old naira notes as ransom.
According to local sources, the kidnappers sent a message on Tuesday warning that they would not free the abducted victims until the Central Bank of Nigeria had issued the new naira notes, which the villagers were attempting to obtain through cooperative effort (CBN).
An indigene in the area, Mohammed Ibrahim, said the bandits later reduced the ransom to N5m, adding that people in the village had been trying to raise the money to secure the safe release of the victims.
“As we were trying to gather the money demanded by the terrorists, they sent another message that they would not collect old naira notes,” the source said.
“They said that they would keep the abducted persons in their camps until next month – December – when the new naira notes would be in circulation.”
Police authorities in Zamfara State are yet to comment on these latest abductions as efforts to reach the spokesperson proved abortive.
Gunmen abducted Nduka Anyanwu, an APGA politician, in Imo State on Tuesday, according to another report.
Anyanwu, one of the party’s candidates for the House of Assembly, was reportedly campaigning with his followers when the gunmen burst into the gathering and abducted him.
Narrating how the abduction happened, a source said, “The gunmen stopped him (Anyanwu) on the way as he was going to finalise arrangements for his polling agents. We are yet to ascertain where they took him to and the kidnappers are yet to make any contact.”
The politician had been released, according to John Iwuala, the state’s APGA chairman, who confirmed the kidnapping.
Iwuala said, “Yes, our candidate was kidnapped early this morning, but just as we were about to report it officially, we heard that the kidnappers had released him. The kidnappers collected all he had with him at the time he was kidnapped.”
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