Seven persons including a 7-year-old girl kidnapped at Rijana, Kaduna-Abuja highway have been rescued by joint operation Thunder Strike and handed over to Kaduna state government who in turn handed over the victims to the officials of the Offa Descendents Union (ODU).
The survivors, who were travelling from Ofa, Kwara State to Zaria in Kaduna state last week Saturday were abducted by gunmen dressed in full military camouflage, at Rijana at about 9:30 pm.
The survivors were Aishat Bisola, 26, Ahmad Abdulrafiu, 26, Maryam Abubakar, 7, Suleiman Khadija, 25, Lawal Temitope, 23, Bala Abdullahi, 52 and Abdulrazak Okunola, 35.
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Speaking at Government House on Wednesday while handing over the survivors to the state commissioner for Internal Security, Mr Samuel Aruwan, the Force Commander, Operation Thunder Strike, Colonel Ibrahim Gambari, said, since the inception of the operation, they have been trying their best to put an end to ugly incidences that have been occurring on the highways.
“Before the operation was launched, several cases of kidnapping on a daily basis was being recorded especially during the day. But, since the inception of operation, we have been able to nip in the bud, such incidences and most of the cases that were recorded usually happen at night and that is why the Kaduna state government stopped the mounting of roadblocks along the road,”
He continued, “based on the report on the incident by the police on Sunday, we have been working tirelessly to ensure that innocent civilians are reunited with their families.
“We are here to assist the people and in the process, we have collaborators living among the civil populace. People know these people but they will not give them out and that has been the main problem.”
Two AK47, 130 rounds of ammunition, five magazine, two mobile phones, N100,000 and three camouflage were recovered from the kidnappers.
“The kidnappers, 15 in number according to the victims, were dealt with. One of our constraints is the terrain, the terrain is not noticeable and troops have to travel for about three and a half hours on foot.
“We had to change our mode of operation and as we are evolving strategies day and night, the kidnappers are also evolving their own strategies, so we are trying our best to keep up the tempo,” he said.
The Force Commander, however, warned the public to avoid travelling at night and if they must, “they should make a u-turn at the sight of any roadblock as we are still working and have not reached the state we want to achieve.”
One of the survivors, Aliyu Aishat Bisola, said, they were kept on a rock for the five days without food, “we trekked for over three hours before we reached the kidnappers’ den on mountain top.
“They collected all our phones and money while they were negotiating ransom between N10million to N2million.
“The kidnappers used to beat us every day. They even covered the face of another male victim and threatened to kill him if he does not bring money.
“They did not give us any food or water and we sat on the rock under rain and sun without any shelter from that Saturday till Wednesday when we were rescued.” She said.
Receiving the survivors, Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs Samuel Aruwan commended the army for the successful operation that led to the victims’ rescue.‎
Aruwan while equally handing over the victims to the leadership of offa descendants union said the victims would be taken to hospital for a medical check-up.
He reiterated that no ransom was paid to the bandits before rescuing the seven kidnapped victims as he commended the military for a successful operation.‎
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‎According to him, ‎”They were rescued due to doggedness of our troops and so, no ransom was paid to rescue the victims‎. We are thankful to the military for rescuing the victims,” he said.
He also urged travellers to be cautious of ‎travelling in the night and early in the morning.
Receiving the victims, National Vice President Offa Descendants Union, Professor Tijjani Olanisimi thanked the State Government and the Nigerian Military for rescuing the victims.
He also said since the victims were kidnapped, their family members had sleepless night. He urged the government security agencies, in particular, to be more proactive so as to end kidnapping around Kaduna-Abuja highway.
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