Nabeeha’s Father: How Bandits Got Access To My Daughters

The father of six abducted girls, including Nabeeha, who was killed in captivity, has disclosed how the bandits got access to them.

Daily Trust recalls that some kidnappers ravaging the Federal Capital Territory abducted six sisters of Al-Kadriyar family and demanded a ransom of N60 million for their release, and one of the girls, a student of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) was killed following the delay of the ransom.

In an interview with Arise TV News, the father disclosed the experience that led to the abduction of his girls, following a gun duel with the security agents.

Al-Kadriyar said he mistook the bandits for armed robbers when he first sighted them in his compound through the door and windows, adding that he called his brother, Alhaji Abdulfatai, for help.

Unfortunately, Abdulfatai, who was with the police lost his life in the effort to rescue the abductees.

He added that three policemen were injured in the gun duel with the terrorists.

He hailed the gallant effort of his brother who mobilised the police to his neighbourhood to rescue them but unfortunately, they were overwhelmed by the assailants.

He said, “I picked up my phone. I was trying to see who I could call, neighbours around. My memory was like ‘who do I call?’ I was confused. But along the line, I was able to pick myself up and said let me call my brother. And I called my brother. I said where are you, there is a problem, we have been attacked by thieves.

“Within 15 minutes. I called back, he said Bros, I am close to you. That’s OK. So I was a bit relaxed. The guys, I have already sighted them by the window. They pulled the window and they broke the glass. I knew they were in full force.

“There was nothing I could do than for me to surrender myself to them. I know what it is that you need. One of them said ‘Ina kudi’ (where is money), I looked at him and I said I don’t have money.

“He marched me out of my room and my children too. They had already broken the door. They used a long jigger they saw in my compound. They broke the doors and got access to my children.

“Their intention was to lead us out of that community to the main road. So I had the confidence that at least the police would come or other security people would come, that would make them leave us and run away.

“When I noticed my brother was driving in. I was happy. He was the one that actually led the police to my community. When I sighted his car, they (the kidnappers) had already positioned themselves again. When they understood that they were coming but they didn’t know who was coming. But they saw the police light on, they knew quite alright that these guys had come for them

“They told us to lie down, and I told my children, just go down. Three of them now went to a building not far from the main road, trying to gain entrance to that building. I was seeing them using arrows and all sorts of things to break the security lights. It was from there they now exchanged bullets (with the police).

“I saw my brother was trying to drive further, the next thing was for him to reverse back. The reverse that he did, I believed they must have shot him. So the police vehicle got stuck. They were all exchanging gunfire with themselves.

“After a few minutes, I think the police stopped. They could not advance further. I know they must have injured my brother or the police. For the police vehicle could not to advance further, meaning that they could not withstand the guys.

“Thereafter, they were able to regroup themselves, and get their strength that they had injured these people. They now asked us to stand up and go back to the village, take another route to get out of that place.”

Nigerians expressed anger and frustration altogether when the bandits killed one of the girls in the forest when they did not receive the rasnom they demanded.

At the time, former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, was widely criticised when he announced that he spoke with a friend to raise money for the release of the remaining sisters.

Some days later, the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru kicked against crowdfunding by Nigerians to raise ransom for the abducted citizens, as he argued that he encouraged the criminals.