Bella Ifasola
One Aisha Abubakar, a women leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who doubles as a bandits’ informant, has confessed to receiving only N5000 from N9million and a motorcycle paid as a ransom to bandits in Katsina State, northern Nigeria.
Abubakar reportedly organised the kidnap of five members of the family of the Tsaiyaya Ward APC chairman and was paid the said N5000.
In a viral interrogatory video, the woman revealed how she supplied information leading to the kidnap of one Alhaji Sanusi, two wives and three children of the APC chairman in Tsaiyaya Ward in the Matazu Local Government Area of Katsina State.
She confessed to have participated in another cattle rustling operation which also fetched her the sum of N20,000 only.
“I was approached by one Zainab, now at large to provide information on Alhaji Sanusi and the family of chairman to enable a successfully kidnap operation and I did,” she said.
“After the ransom, including N9 million and a motorcycle were paid I was given a share of N5000. Though with a balance of N15,000 to be paid after I returned from a wedding ceremony in Zaria.
“Other key actors within Tsaiyaya community were Yahaya, Audu na Bani and the children of Bashar.
“I was also a key informant in the successful cattle rustling in Tsaiyaya some time ago and I got N20,000 from that operation,” Abubakar confessed.
-.Insecurity and violence in Nigeria –
For more than a decade, civilians in Nigeria have faced multiple security threats and risk of atrocities as result of attacks, kidnappings and extortion by various non-state armed groups.
Since the start of 2024 civilians have faced intensified violence across Nigeria, and near-daily attacks by armed groups resulting in kidnappings and other abuses against civilians.
Armed groups and gangs, including so-called “bandits,” have – for many years – perpetrated widespread atrocities, including murder, rape, kidnapping, organized cattle-rustling and plunder. Armed herdsmen are also destroying vast swaths of farmland, prompting many farmers to abandon their land out of fear of attack.
Although – Lagos, the country’s commercial hub has low record of attacks by armed bandits, the state houses too much political thugs who engage in intimidation, harassment of citizens and many other criminal activities. Many of them, especially high profile ones enjoy protections from political elites and security operatives.
Last week, a young man died after he was reportedly beaten with dangerous objects by 6 men led by a senior police officer’s son in Lagos.
Two weeks ago, police operatives foiled a kidnap attempt in Lagos, nine suspects were killed during the operation.
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