Three members of an Abuja based family, Mistura Olasinde and her two daughters, Hauwa and Fatima, residents of Starwood Estate, Galadimawa, in the Federal Capital Territory, were abducted on Friday, September 8, 2023.
Mistura’s husband, Surajudeen Olasinde, a staff member of the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria, revealed that the incident happened at Kabusa Garden Estate while his wife and children were driving home in their Toyota Highlander from Garki to Starwood Estate located in-between Galadimawa and Lokokogoma areas of Abuja, where they reside.
“Their abduction happened around 7 pm last Friday on their way from Garki. Immediately they reached Kabusa Garden Estate at the spot where the road was terribly bad, the kidnappers came out from the nearby bush and attacked them. They started shooting to scare people away before they marched them into the bush,” Olasinde said.
He further noted that residents quickly called on the Galadimawa Divisional Police Officer, Jerry Cole, who immediately led a team of policemen in collaboration with vigilante operatives, to comb the bushes, adding that the search effort was, however, unsuccessful.
Mr Olasinde, an indigene of Offa in Kwara State, said he was away in the state when the incident happened.
“I was not in Abuja when it happened because I have been transferred to Kwara State. But I was told that the police and the vigilantes searched the bush all through till 3 am on Saturday without success. We also contacted officers of the Department of State Services. They tracked the kidnappers’ movement and the search got to a forest in Kuje,” he said.
Mr Olasinde, who arrived in Abuja on Saturday, said his family’s captors contacted his brother-in-law to demand a ₦100 million ransom.
“They asked for ₦100 million. Later, they brought it down to ₦50million, then to ₦10million. But at the end of the day, they asked us how much we had with us.
“The kidnappers even told us that if they killed my wife and my two daughters, they could sell their body parts above whatever amount we claimed to have. We resorted to begging, pleading with them not to harm or kill my family,” he narrated.
He further noted that when they informed the kidnappers that they didn’t have much money, the kidnappers asked about the Toyota Highlander that was attacked, leading him to inform them that it was part of the valuables sold out to raise money for the ransom they planned to give to the kidnappers.
Olasinde further revealed that they were able to raise exactly N2.840million, adding that the kidnappers directed them to bring the ransom Saturday night.
“They directed us to bring the money around 8 pm on Saturday. They told us to go to Kabusa Village and pick any Okada rider (commercial motorcyclist) to a place where we did not know.
“My brother-in-law and I climbed the same bike to deliver the ransom. When we got to the thick forest where they were, they came out, collected the ransom. We gave them N2million and N840,000.
“It took about 40 minutes before my wife and daughters got to the point where we waited for them. So we begged the Okada rider to take my wife and daughters home, and to come back and pick us too,” Olasinde revealed.
