Family members of the Al-Kadriyar girls have revealed that they paid ransom to bandits for the release of five of the six girls who were amongst a total of 23 persons kidnapped on January 2, 2023, in the Bwari area of the Federal Capital Territory.
While four persons were killed by the bandits last week, the remaining 19 persons regained their freedom on Saturday night.
In an exclusive interview with our correspondent on Sunday, uncles to the Al-Kadriyar girls, Abbas and Sherifdeen Al-Kadriyar, debunked reports by the FCT police and Nigerian Army sources that the girls and other victims were rescued through their joint efforts.
Abbas Al-Kadriyar, who picked up the girls from the forest, said, “We paid a ransom for the release of our girls. A ransom was paid, and the police were not involved. The children called me, and I went to pick them up. On my way, I saw soldiers at the junction, and the bush is a very thick bush along the Gurara Dam, so I had to call the attention of the soldiers to follow me to the spot where we could locate our children.
“The bandits left them there to call us to come and pick them up. But we paid a ransom, and no police were involved. The children were not rescued by anyone, the soldiers only assisted me in locating where they were and they provided a cover for us.”
In corroborating the account, another uncle, Sheriffdeen Al-Kadriyar, also noted, “My elder brother was the one who went to pick up the girls on Saturday, days after we’ve paid the ransom. But the soldiers escorted them back home.”
Meanwhile, the FCT Police Command had earlier claimed that the Al-Kadriyar sisters and other abducted victims were rescued from the bandits’ den in Kajuru forest in Kaduna State by a joint team of policemen and soldiers of the Nigerian Army on Saturday night.
About 23 persons were abducted on January 2, 2024, in the Zuma 1 area of Kawu, in the Bwari Area Council of Abuja.
The police, on Sunday, confirmed that all the victims, including the five sisters whose abduction had raised nationwide concerns, were freed at about 11 pm on Saturday, and had since been reunited with their families.
