One of the victims of the kidnapping that took place last week at Shola Quarters in the Katsina State capital, Alhaji Tukur Turaki, has disclosed that he paid the sum of N11 million to secure his release alongside his wife, Sa’adatu Turaki, from their abductors.
He made the disclosure while speaking with journalists in Katsina after his return yesterday. He explained that the bandits gained entrance to his house when his wife mistook them for soldiers and began to ask of his whereabouts and later demanded that he should give them money.
“I gave them N700,000 which they collected but still took me away. My wife was also coming along with us from behind. They commanded her to go back, but later changed their mind and took her along to the thick forest which I noticed was not part of Katsina but Zamfara State.
“They chained our legs, asking me to pay the sum of N30 million for them to release my wife and I. They said, even though they were sent to kill me, they changed their minds to free me if I only agreed to pay such an amount.
“We later reached an agreement for me to pay the sum of N10 million but the very day my people were supposed to make a delivery there was a downpour that deterred the plan. But the bandits demanded an additional N1 million be added making it N11 million delivered to them before they freed us,” he added.
Narrating their ordeal, Turaki described what they faced in the hands of the bandits as pathetic, given the kind of hardships they were subjected to, after trekking for several hours, they were chained, blindfolded with pieces of clothes and subjected to severe whipping.
The wife, Sa’adatu Turaki, also added that though her eyes were left open throughout the journey to the forest, she could not trace the routes they followed.
She added that they were fed only on spaghetti and palm oil throughout their stay while they (the kidnappers) fed themselves with corn flour popularly known as “Tuwo da Miya”.
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