The family of the Al-Kadriyah family has confirmed paying N55 million ransom to secure release of the five sisters.
The girls were abducted in Abuja on January 2, 2024 and released on January 20 after 18 days in the kidnappers’ den.
The family’s clarification contradicts reports from the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) that they were rescued by security forces late on Saturday.
LEADERSHIP has however learnt that a ransom of N55 million was paid to their kidnappers, who afterwards left the girls in a village in Kajuru, Kaduna State.
LEADERSHIP recalls that bandits had, in early January, kidnapped six sisters and their father in Bwari, an area council within the federal capital territory. The outlaws released the man and asked him to pay N60m for his daughters to regain their freedom. However, following delay in getting the ransom they demanded, the bandits killed one of the sisters, Nabeeha, who was a 500-level student at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Her murder sparked outrage across the country over the state of insecurity but also led to a crowdfunding effort to secure the release of the remaining five sisters who were still in captivity.
After their release late on 20th January, the police released a statement that the sisters were rescued by a joint team of security operatives.
Bug in an interview with LEADERSHIP yesterday, an uncle of the freed sisters, M. A. Al-Kadriyah, said a ransom of N55 million was paid for their release.
Mr Kadriyah also said there were other groups who paid ransom to free victims in captivity to the same bandits.
He said, “To the best of my knowledge and as of the day of the payment, they demanded N55 million. Of course, it was delivered in cash because there were about three or four groups that were supposed to pay.
“They asked someone to collect from the whole group and bring it to the location where he collected it from other groups, and he gave it to them. That was Wednesday evening. Then around Thursday, it was confirmed that the money was complete and they should wait for further directives from the bandits.”
According to him, no directive was received from the bandits until Saturday night when the affected families were told to go to a village somewhere in Kajuru or so, to go and pick up the victims.
He said, “On their way there, they met a military checkpoint. They introduced themselves and they told them where they were going, that the bandits asked them to go to so, so place.
“You know, they had never been there before. It was the army that said, ‘okay let’s take you to that side’. The army led them to the place and they met the children at the point where the bandits said they would see them.
“The children,” he said, “were put in the vehicle and the army now led them to Bwari town, and that was all.”
