A ransom of N30 million has been requested for the release of Barrister Cyril Adikwu’s wife and his two in-laws, who were abducted from the Army estate in Kurudu.
The Nation had reported how kidnappers invaded the estate on Thursday night at about 10 pm and took away his wife and two in-laws.
Adikwu, who had escaped when the kidnappers came to his residence in the estate, said he was in communication with the kidnappers and they had demanded a ransom of over 30 million naira within a time frame.
He said: “It all happened on Thursday night at about 10:00 pm when a vehicle containing those who were kidnapped drove into my compound, and then all of a sudden, the kidnappers followed the vehicle into my compound.
“I was upstairs and heard strange sounds, so I peeped through the burglary door upstairs and saw one of them who was kidnapped on the floor. I asked what was going on there, and she said, ‘I don’t know, these men are asking me to go down, then it occurred to me they were kidnappers.
“Then I started screaming ‘Kidnappers help” at the top of my voice, at this point, they started shooting at me upstairs; I was able to escape and then they started shooting guns in the air while they took the three of them away.
“There were about 8 of them, and they walked through the bush path over the hill to the other side, not up to 40 minutes later, they left; I was called to provide a ransom, I don’t want to mention the amount because already false information is everywhere in the media about the whole incident, but I can assure you it’s more than 30 million.
“I am traumatized right now after the whole incident, and the kidnappers have been calling me and have given me a time frame.”
One of the estate management officials who did not want to be mentioned said the estate management, in collaboration with security agencies, is working to rescue the kidnapped victims.
He said: “The incident that happened on Thursday night in the estate was really unfortunate. We were alerted immediately, but before security personnel got there, the kidnappers had left with the victims. We assure you that we are working with security agencies to see that they are rescued unhurt.”
The military, police and other security operatives are working round the clock to fish out the kidnappers and around the nation’s capital.
Recall that the police now have in their custody one Chinaza Phillip, a suspected kidnapper who was handed over to the FCT police command by the Kaduna State police command.
THE NATION
