Two weeks before returning from a wedding in northwestern Nigeria, 29 people kidnapped by shooters were released, relatives told AFP on Friday. Told.
Victims, all cell phone traders returned to Zamfara's capital, Gusau, after attending a colleague's wedding when one of their cars broke down late June 11.
"29 members who were kidnapped two weeks ago were released on Thursday after paying prisoners 20 million naira ($ 50,000)."
The day after the kidnapping, Mukhtar told AFP that 30 guests had been kidnapped at the wedding and 20 managed to escape.
In fact, 29 were kidnapped and all were released, he said. "Their release followed fierce negotiations with bandits who initially demanded 145 million naira from hostages," said another union officer, Mustafa Harifa.
After being released, the victims were taken to the hospital and, according to Harifa, became ill because of the "difficult situation" of the prisoners.
In northwestern and central Nigeria, heavily armed criminal organizations known locally as bandits are rampant, attacking villages and mass kidnapping for ransom despite military operations. Is going.
Armed groups kidnapped 22 farmers on Wednesday from a field on the outskirts of Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, the latest in a kidnapping case in Africa's most populous country.
There is no ideological motivation for the economic reasons that gangsters are active.
However, the possibility of an alliance with the Jihadi Group, which has rioted in the northeast for 13 years, raises concerns.
