By Ademola Adeleye
In early October, Obadiah Ibrahim was returning from Abuja to Kaduna, but his journey ended earlier than schedule when he was abducted by bandits at Sabon Gaya in Kaduna. That was when the nightmare for him and his family began.
Kefas Ibrahim, the brother of abducted Obadiah told The Punch newspaper that Obadiah died in captivity after his abductors collected N3 million naira ransom, a far cry from the initial N200 million they demanded.
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It was not clear how Obadiah died but according to the bandits, he was killed in retaliation for the killing of one of the bandits by police.
But the unbelievable aspect of the whole tragedy is that, bandits are now demanding N10million before they could release the corpse of Obadiah, saying ‘they cannot work for free for the family.’
Kefas: “Ibrahim had died on Monday and they informed us on Thursday. We asked for his corpse and they said we should pay them N10 million if we wanted the corpse; (that) they’d not work for us free of charge.
“Although I wasn’t the one communicating with the bandits, there was a negotiator. Earlier, the bandits demanded N200 million and later settled for N3 million plus.They said we should bring the money. After giving them the ransom, they told us the money was for their foodstuffs which got finished, and that we should go and bring N15 million.
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“They later came down to N5 million and three motor bikes, and later collected one bike. After collecting a bike, we didn’t hear from them again. We tried to communicate with them but unfortunately, we were unable (to).
“Then, on Thursday, when the negotiator called them, they said our brother was dead. We thought they were joking. When we continued, they threatened to track him and come for him if (he) did not stop calling their line.
“They said their own men were arrested by (the) police, tied to a tree, and killed. So, they vented their anger too on our brother because of what police did to their brother.
“The bandits also said ‘Allah’ (swearing in the name of God), if we brought the money, they’d release the corpse in three days.”
