Zamfara kidnappers threaten to kill abducted pregnant woman within 48 hours if ransom is not paid

KIDNAPERS who abducted the young lady Sumayya Abubakar in Zamfara State have given her family 48 hours to come up with a ransom fee of N20m ($55,000) of they will execute her in cold blood as they have done with other kidnap victims.

Yesterday, the kidnappers spoke with her father Abubakar Yusuf and told him that they killed 20-year-old Surajo Umar, one of his neighbours, who was also in their custody. Ms Abubakar and Mr Umar were abducted in October alongside four others in Zurmi, a village near Dauran town in Zamfara State.

Two of the kidnapped people, twin sisters, were released in November after the payment of a ransom to the kidnappers by their relatives. At the time, the abductors threatened to kill them after the girls’ family said they could not raise the N15m but later relented after and reduced the amount, which was paid to them.

In an audio clip that went viral, one of the twins was heard pleading for help from both the government and the general public, saying some kidnapped victims, whose families could not pay the ransom to free them, were slaughtered in their presence. Donations from Senator Kabiru Marafa, the chairman of Zarmi Local Government Area Awwal-Bawa Moriki and crowdfunding on social media, helped raise the money for their release.

Two other victims said to be brothers aged nine and 10 years old, were also reportedly released after the payment of a ransom. Yesterday, Sumayya’s father said that he feared for his daughter’s life now.

He added: “Right from when Sumayya was abducted, the whole family and our loved ones have not been finding it easy. The situation our daughter, who was two months pregnant, has found herself in, in the bush with the kidnappers, without food and water, is terrible.

“The abductors are insisting we pay N150m before they would be released but they later reduced it to N30m, involving N20m for Sumayya and N10m for Surajo. The day those twins were released, my house was something else as it has gotten to a point where, even to eat food is a problem because any time I think of it, I feel as if my heart would burst.”