Kidnapped Nigerian sisters rescued after national outcry

ABUJA, Nigeria: Five kidnapped Nigerian sisters have been rescued after their abduction and the death of another sister triggered a public outcry, police said on Sunday. The sisters were seized at the start of the year by armed men who burst into their home just 15 miles (25 kilometers) from Abuja city center, according to the family. Attackers killed one sister, 21-year-old Nabeeha Al-Kadriyar, when a ransom deadline passed. Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police and the army rescued the girls on Saturday night in the Kajuru forest in neighboring Kaduna State. “The FCT Police has rescued the victims and reunited them with their families,” a police statement said. A cousin of the girls confirmed to AFP that they were back with the family.

Kidnapping for ransom has been a major problem in Nigeria with criminal gangs targeting highways, apartments and even snatching pupils from schools. After public outrage over the sisters’ case this week, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu condemned what he called the “recent spate of kidnappings and bandit attacks”. First Lady Remi Tinubu also voiced concern, while politicians and the media questioned the government’s strategy after gangs targeted parts of the heavily-guarded Federal Capital Territory, which is as big as some states but run by a minister rather than a governor. One tabloid declared at the weekend that Abuja was “under siege”.

‘Lie low, buy time’

The Nigerian risk consultancy SBM Intelligence told AFP it had documented 283 people abducted in the Federal Capital Territory alone over the past year.

Some experts believe the country’s economic crisis is driving a rise in kidnappings as desperate Nigerians turn to crime for income. SBM analyst Confidence MacHarry said insecurity around the capital has been growing for years. “It’s been getting worse for some time,” he said, citing a 2022 attack on a prison on the outskirts of Abuja as a landmark moment.

Gunmen bombed their way into Kuje jail and freed hundreds of inmates in the raid claimed by Islamic State-allied jihadists. The minister for the Federal Capital Territory has urged residents not to panic and promised to find a solution. MacHarry said the government needed a consistent approach and warned periodic crackdowns on criminals in Abuja’s satellite towns were not working. “All the bandits have to do is lie low and buy themselves time,” he said.

Bandit attack

Nigerian law bans paying ransom to kidnappers, but many families have little faith in the authorities and feel they have no choice. On the night the sisters were abducted, they were at home in Bwari inside the Federal Capital Territory, according to a cousin.

Asiya Adamu, 23, described how the attackers known as “bandits” in Nigeria struck at around 9 pm on Jan 2. They demanded cash but the sisters’ father Mansoor had nothing to give and offered his belongings instead. The attackers rounded up his daughters along with a cousin and tied their hands. They also took Mansoor captive and beat the seven family members before leading them away, Adamu said. They shot Mansoor’s brother dead when he tried to help, and several police officers were killed in a gun battle, she said.

Mansoor was released on condition he raise a large ransom within days but the struggling family could not meet the deadline and the bandits killed Nabeeha, returned her body, and increased the fee, Adamu said. Adamu said the youngest of the sisters is just 14.

Tinubu came to office last year vowing to tackle Nigeria’s insecurity, including jihadists in the northeast, criminal militias in the northwest and a flareup of intercommunal violence in central states. But critics say the kidnapping crisis is out of control.

Opposition politician Peter Obi said “the fact that these kidnappings, killings and other reported cases of armed robbery and violent attacks are now taking place in Abuja, the nation’s capital, is a clear pointer to how insecure the rest of the country now is.” “The trauma being experienced by this family and the blood of this innocent child should prick our conscience as leaders,” he said.