Bandits have slaughtered 35 people kidnapped from a village in northern Zamfara State after paying ransoms for their release.
The gunmen abducted 56 people from Banga village, Kaura Namoda Local Government Area, in March. They then demanded a ransom of one million naira per captive, Nigerian media reports.
Speaking, Manniru Haidara Kaura, the Chairman of the local government, stated that most of those killed were young people who “were slaughtered like rams.”
He narrated that the bandits demanded ransom money, which they got after negotiation, adding that the bandits released 18 people, including 17 women and one young boy, on Saturday.
Manniru said only the kidnappers know why they murdered their victims, describing them as senseless and heartless people. “They forget that they are killing their brothers, and we will all meet before Allah.”
Sixteen of those released on Saturday are in the hospital receiving treatment, while the bodies of the 38 killed by the bandits are unlikely to be returned, because it is rare for them to release corpses.
The government enacted a law in 2022 to make ransom payments a crime to nip the profitable kidnapping business in the bud. It attracts a jail sentence of at least 15 years, but the government has not been able to arrest anyone on those charges.
The law also made abduction punishable by death in cases where the victims die. Meanwhile, people are constantly under pressure to pay ransoms to save their loved ones when they know that the government will not be able to rescue any kidnapped victim.
Bandits have resorted to abduction as a means to generate money for themselves.
