A young man based in Katsina, Safiyanu Muhammed, has cried out over alleged threats to his life by kidnappers.
He told SaharaReporters that kidnappers called his elder brother, Bello Muhammed, who stays and works as a truck driver in Abuja to pay a ransom of N1 million to avert his (Safiyanu’s) kidnap.
Safiyanu said, “I am really scared. Fulani kidnappers called my brother and told him to bring N5 million or else they will kidnap me. They later reduced the money to N1 million. My brother stays in Abuja and works there as a tipper driver; we don’t have any money. I don’t even feel safe, I don’t know who is monitoring me. Why me?”
In the audio file shared with SaharaReporters, the kidnappers were heard negotiating with the Bello over the amount to be paid as ransom for Safiyanu, their target.
Bello said, “Where will I get N1 million? I make N2, 500, N2, 000 or 3, 000 daily at most. Everything I have altogether is not up to N1 million. Anything you want to do, go ahead and do it.
“The person you are talking about is my brother and we have another brother that was kidnapped and killed. Currently, the wife of the deceased, the one you are planning to kidnap and myself, all we are looking for is money to feed ourselves, we don’t even have what to eat.
“If there is anyone who told you we are rich, the person is deceiving you, we are not rich, we don’t even have food to eat.”
SaharaReporters learnt that the case had yet to be reported to the police as of the time of filing this report as the kidnappers sternly warned Bello that he and his brother should expect serious consequences if the police get to know about their demand for pre-kidnap ransom.
