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Abuja kidnappers threaten to ‘waste’ orphans, demand N30m ransom
BY PAUL SILAS
Kidnappers who abducted seven orphans and a guard at the Rachel’s Orphanage Home in Naharati, Abaji Area council, Abuja, have threatened to “waste” their victims if their demand for a N30 million ransom was not met.
Daily Trust reports that the bandits who stormed the orphanage in the early hours of Saturday and abducted seven orphans, including a security guard of the home alongside three others, were demanding N10 million for the orphans and the guard.
The kidnappers had also asked for N10 million for each of the couple, Momoh Jimoh and his wife, Khadijat Jimoh, who were abducted alongside another housewife, Rukaiyyat Salihu.
A source at the orphanage home, who preferred anonymity, disclosed Monday that the kidnappers made a phone call on Sunday and Monday, in which they demanded N10 million for the seven orphans and the security guard before they could be set free.
“Actually, they even called this afternoon and they are demanding N10 million before they will release the seven orphans and our security guard, in which we asked them if they know that the children they kidnapped are orphans,” the source said.
READ: Bandits abduct 11 children, staff in Abuja orphanage
According to the source, the management had told the kidnappers that they had no such money, saying even the feeding and clothing of the orphans were through the support of some corporate organisations and some non-governmental organisations (NGO).
He added: “They even threatened to waste the children if we fail to raise the N10 million ransom, but we still let them know that those children have no mother or father.”
He said the management had not reached any agreement with the kidnappers, even as he said security agents had been informed about the incident.
He further informed that the remaining orphans at the orphanage home had been evacuated back to Abuja based on security advice.
A relative of the kidnapped couple corroborated the source’s account, confirming that the kidnappers were demanding N10 million before the couple would be set free.
“They didn’t even allow me to talk, as they insisted that the family should go and look for N10 million before the man and his wife will be set free,” he said.
Spokesperson of the FCT police command, ASP Maryam Yusuf, could not confirm the ransom claims of both the orphanage home management and relatives of the three other Kidnapped victims.