An Army Wife’s Ordeal

Two weeks ago, the cat-and-mouse game between the security forces and bandits in the northwest claimed an unlikely and high-value victim, the wife of a retired military officer.

The officer was once the voice and face of the defense establishment.

On 30 May, Maj Gen. Rabe Abubakar (Rtd), along with his wife were kidnapped in Matazu Local Government in Katsina by bandits.

While the storyline around the abductions has centred on the criminal activities of the bandits and Gen. Abubakar’s connections to the security state hunting them, the name and identity of his wife, her family and children have mostly been absent in news reports.

Gen. Abubakar and his wife, Amina Abubakar, were on their way to a wedding when they were ambushed along the Marabar Musawa-Kafinsoli road by the bandits, who dragged them to a nearby forest.

Incidentally, one of the couple’s daughters, Khadijah, had only gotten married some eight months ago in Kaduna.

Families of military officers have often paid an unseen and quiet price for security challenges when they are faced with the sudden loss of their spouses in the line of duty or have to care for soldiers with life-altering injuries.

Knowing she is the more vulnerable of the couple and is more likely to generate public sympathy, the bandits are using the retired officer’s wife to convey their demands and message to the authorities.

In a recent video clip released on social media, she is seen pleading with the state government to meet her kidnapper’s demands.

During the abduction, the driver of the couple, Abdulllahi Sa’idu, whose name has also mostly gone unmentioned, suffered a gunshot wound but was not held captive.