The family of the abducted managing director of Bank of Agriculture, Alwan Hassan paid a ransom of N100m to Kaduna terrorists to secure his release.
Mr Hassan was released on Wednesday after spending about 10 days in captivity, following his abduction alongside scores of passengers of Abuja-Kaduna train on March 28.
The online news platform SaharaReporters said the family sold Hassan’s Abuja house to raise the money.
The kidnappers earlier sent the family the video of the harrowing experience Hassan and other 162 captives were facing, to fix the ransom price.
“So the family gave them what they insisted on that is N100million,” said one of the family sources.
According to Daily Nigerian, the kidnappers first asked the family to take the money to a forest in Katsina on Tuesday before asking them to make a detour to another forest in Kaduna.
The source added that after the family emissaries journeyed for hours in the bush, the gunmen appeared fully armed in their hundreds and collected the money.
But the terrorists in a video claimed they released the BoA MD on compassionate grounds due to his old age.
They said: “We are responsible for the attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train and we are allowing the man to go because of his age and in the spirit of Ramadan.
“This is the tip of the iceberg. We are not after money and the government knows what we want,” he said.
The BoA MD who was flanked by heavily armed terrorists in the video was directed to speak. He pleaded with the government to listen to the terrorists so that other captives can be released. He said: “There are many captives with our abductors here and out of pity, they decided to release me and due to the month of Ramadan, I am appealing to the government to save the lives of others with them.”
