Gov Lied, We Paid N6.6m Ransom For 26 Ladies – Village Head

By GWG Staff

The village head of Dan-Aji community in Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State where 26 girls were abducted by bandits last October has rebuffed the claims by Governor Bello Matawalle that the ladies were freely released without money.

Alhaji Lawal Dogara, the village head told newsmen on Monday that  the return of the ladies was facilitated by the payment of N6.6 million.

He said that the ransom was ferried to the bandits in the bush after a three-day journey.

“The governor of Zamfara State should stop claiming credit for the release of our women because we paid for their release,” Dogara told newsmen.

According to him two village members, Alhaji Abdulkarim Dan Aji and Liman Babangida Dan-Aji, walked for three days into the bush to pay the ransom as demanded to the bandits.

Dan-Aji in Katsina State shares boundaries with Zamfara State. The bandits after abducting their victims had taken them into the forest in Zamfara State, where the ransom was reportedly delivered.

His claim followed claims by the Zamfara State governor that the ladies were rescued through the intervention of the state government.

Daily Trust had reported that the ladies were picked from houses in Garin Aja on October 31, 2020, only to be released on November 6.

“Those abducted included girls and spinsters. The bandits moved from house to house and selected their victims,” one of the sources told a Daily Trust reporter.

“The abductors did not bother to pick children or the old; they carefully selected girls and young women who either lost their husbands or divorced. They also asked their parents to pay a ransom and get their wards back. The parents simply complied because they want their children back and safely,” another source said.

“The young girls kidnapped from Katsina State were rescued on 6/11/2020 as a result of our intervention,” the Zamfara State Government had claimed.

Governor Matawalle had in a tweet said: “I interacted with 26 rescued girls after medical professionals have ascertained their physical and mental fitness following days of trauma suffered in kidnappers den.”

The ladies were eventually formally handed over to Governor Bello Aminu Masari by a delegation of the Zamfara State Government led by the Commissioner for Security and Home Affairs, Alhaji Abubakar Dauran.

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