According to the Kaduna State Police Command spokesman, Aliyu Usman, the abductors took away the former minister and her 73-year-old husband but spared their driver who was unharmed. He said that the police were tracking the perpetrators and would ensure the release of the victims unharmed.
Sources also indicated that the abductors had reached out to the minister’s family demanding a ransom. According to Mr Usman, however, said the police are not aware of any demand by the abductors.
A former member of the House of Representatives, who narrowly escaped the kidnapping, added that the abductors whom he alleged were Fulani herdsmen were armed with guns and dangerous weapons. He said the kidnappers, who were many in number, had mounted a roadblock on the expressway in Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State, preventing commuters going to Abuja and Kaduna from passing.
“Initially we thought they were armed robbers because they mounted a road block and stopped cars that were either going to Abuja or coming to Kaduna. I attended a wedding in Kaduna with my family and we were going back to Abuja when we ran into them.
"They were many and they were shooting sporadically and they went from car to car selecting their victims into a waiting vehicle. They will look at your car then they will drag you out to their vehicle,” he added.
He said the operation lasted for about 20 minutes, after which the kidnappers zoomed off with their victims down an untarred road leading to the bush. He regretted that despite the deployment of policemen along the Abuja-Kaduna Road, the rate of kidnapping along the road remained on the rise and called on the authorities to act promptly before the situation gets out of hand.
Sources close to the minister’s family said the kidnappers had called to demand for N10m as ransom for the couple’s release. Scores of relations and associates of the minister were seen yesterday trooping to her Narayi high-cost residence in Kaduna to sympathise with the family.
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