Abuja woman, daughters abducted, husband pays ₦2.8m ransom

On Friday, September 8, 2023, in the nation’s capital, Mistura Olasinde, a female resident of Starwood Estate, Galadimawa in the Federal Capital Territory, and her two kids, Hauwa and Fatima, were kidnapped.

According to Surajudeen Olasinde, Mistura’s husband and a staff member of the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria, the incident occurred at Kabusa Garden Estate while his wife and kids were returning home in their Toyota Highlander from Garki to Starwood Estate, which is where they live and is situated between the Galadimawa and Lokokogoma areas of Abuja.

“On their way from Garki last Friday, they were abducted around 7 o’clock. The kidnappers emerged from the neighbouring woods as soon as they arrived at Kabusa Garden Estate, where the road was quite terrible. They then attacked them. “They started shooting to frighten people off before marching them into the bush,” Olasinde claimed.

Residents swiftly called Galadimawa Divisional Police Officer Jerry Cole, who immediately organised a team of officers to search the bushes with vigilante operatives, he continued, adding that the search was futile.

Mr. Olasinde, a native of Offa in Kwara State, claimed to have been absent from the state at the time of the occurrence.

“Because I was relocated to Kwara State, I wasn’t in Abuja when everything happened. However, I was informed that the vigilantes and police combed the bush all night Saturday until 3 am without finding anything. We also got in touch with representatives of the Department of State Services. They followed the kidnappers’ movements, and they found them in a forest in Kuje,” the man claimed.

Mr. Olasinde, who arrived in Abuja on Saturday, claimed the people holding his family hostage had gotten in touch with his brother-in-law and demanded a 100 million naira ransom.

Read Also: APC USA warns protesters against disrupting Tinubu’s visit to UN Assembly

“They want $100 million. Later, they reduced it to 50 million, and then to 10 million. However, they questioned us about our personal belongings at the conclusion of the day.

The kidnappers also said that if they killed my wife and my two girls, they might make more money off of their body parts than we had claimed to have. We had no choice except to beg, beseech with them not to hurt or kill my family, he recalled.
He added that the kidnappers inquired about the Toyota Highlander that was assaulted after they told them that they didn’t have much money, which prompted him to tell them that it was one among the items that had been sold to collect money for the ransom they intended to pay the kidnappers.

Olasinde went on to say that they managed to raise precisely N2.840 million and that the kidnappers had told them to deliver the ransom on Saturday night.

“They told us to provide the funds on Saturday at around 8:00 p.m. They instructed us to travel to Kabusa Village and take any Okada rider—a commercial motorcycle—to a location we were unfamiliar with.

“My brother-in-law and I ascended a shared bike to deliver the ransom. When we arrived at the dense jungle where they were hiding, they emerged and demanded the ransom. Their gifts totaled N2 million and N840,000.

“It took my wife and daughters around 40 minutes to arrive at the spot where we waited for them. Therefore, we pleaded with the Okada rider to both drop off my wife and girls at home and pick up the rest of us, too, Olasinde said.

He pleaded with President Bola Tinubu and Minister of the FCT Nyesom Wike to help his wife and daughters, pointing out that in addition to the physical harm they had suffered, they were also experiencing psychological stress and had been transported to a hospital for treatment.

Read Also: Passports should be issued to Nigerians in two weeks, says Minister

In his remarks, Minister Wine was urged to do everything in his ability to increase the residents’ sense of security. The Chairman of Residents of Starwood Estate, Kayode Adedoyin, also listed a number of kidnapping occurrences that had occurred nearby.

When reached, Mr. Cole, the Galadimawa DPO, asked our correspondent to contact SP Josephine Adeh, the FCT Police Command spokesman, emphasising that he was not authorised to talk with the media.

When asked about the situation, SP Adeh said that the FCT Police Command had not yet been informed of it but that she would provide an update as soon as she did.