Zamfara councillors arrested over colleagues’ kidnap

The Commissioner of Police in Zamfara State, Usman Nagogo, has confirmed the arrest of some councillors over their suspected involvement in the March four kidnap of three supervisory councillors of Gummi Local Government Area of the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the police had, last week, confirmed the kidnap of the three councillors.

Nagogo, while parading some suspected criminals at the state’s police command headquarters in Gusau, on Wednesday, told journalists that the case of the kidnapped councillors was still under investigation.

He said: “I initially did not want to talk about the kidnap of the councillors because the case is being investigated.

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“We have discovered that the matter has political undertone because of the way the kidnap was executed.

“We discovered that one of the passengers in the vehicle they were travelling in, dropped halfway on the trip while the victims were advised not to tell even their family members of where they were travelling to.”

On the whereabouts of one of the kidnapped councillors, who was said to have escaped from his abductors on the day of the incident, Nagogo said that issue too was part of the ongoing investigation since the escapee is now at large.

Also while parading other suspects before journalists, the police boss said the command had discovered that people from communities are now sending threat letters to their own communities and posing as bandits to demand large sums of money.

He said: “Two suspects were arrested for criminal conspiracy, intimidation and attempt to commit act of terrorism on February 8, when they pasted threat letters on houses in Gyalange village and demanded for N3 million, without which they said all residents would be wiped out.”