Gunmen invade ABU staff quarters, kidnap lecturer, wife, daughter

Gunmen on Monday invaded the staff quarters of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in Kaduna State and abducted staff of the university.

The incident took place around 1:00 pm.
A lecturer of the university, his wife and daughter were reportedly abducted by the gunmen.

They were said to have been released following a gun battle with the police.

The Director of Public Affairs of the ABU,Mallam Auwalu Umar, confirmed the incident in a statement titled, ‘Armed kidnappers invade ABU, abduct staff ‘

The statement from Umar read: “At about 12:50am on Monday, 23rd November 2020, kidnappers invaded the house of a staff member of the University on Sardauna Crescent, Area BZ, Main Campus, Samaru, Zaria. They went away with him along with his wife and daughter.

“The University Security Division quickly informed the operatives of the Police Intelligence Response Team that advanced to the scene following the distress call.

“There was an exchange of fire between the kidnappers and the mobile police operatives.

“When it was clear that they would be overpowered, the kidnappers ran into the bush along with the victims.

“As the police went after them up to Kasuwar Da’a village bordering the University, the kidnappers then released the wife and the daughter and went away with the husband.

“Some empty shells were recovered from the scene.

“The Inspector-General of Police and other security agencies, as well as all relevant government establishments have been duly informed of the unfortunate incident.”

According to the statement, the Vice-Chancellor urges the University community to remain calm and vigilant to avoid the recurrence of the incident.

This is happening one week after the students from the Department of French were travelling to Lagos for a programme at the Nigerian French Language Village in Badagry when they were abducted along the Abuja-Kaduna..

Recounting his ordeal in the den of the kidnappers one of the students, Dickson Okon, who escaped with a gunshot wound said the kidnappers had contacted families of the students demanding N30 million each for them to regain their freedom.

But it was reported that the kidnappers reduced their demand to N1 million each for the nine students before their release.