Terrorists who kidnapped a bride and 62 wedding guests in Damari in the Sabuwa Local Government Area of Katsina State have threatened to marry the bride and sell the other abductees if their families do not pay the ransom demanded to secure their release.
OBSERVERSTIMES recall that the women were attacked and abducted by the terrorists when they were escorting the bride to her matrimonial home in Damari community.
The victims were initially over 70, mostly friends of the bride. But some of them escaped when they jumped off the moving van after the terrorists hijacked the vehicle.
The Chairman of Dandume Local Government Area, Alhaji Basiru Musa, confirmed the report.
In a viral video seen on X by SaharaReporters, the terrorists filmed all their abductees and said they would marry some of them off to their members and sell the rest if the ransom of N100 million demanded is not paid.
Dressed in police uniform, the terrorist leader said they had a total of 63 captives with them.
“I am the one who abducted them, and I will not release them until the ransom we demanded is paid,” the terrorist leader said in the video.
“Anyone who thinks they can rescue them should try to do so.”
Some of the captives were spotted with AK-47 guns draped around their necks, while the bride was dressed in an army outfit.
One of the kidnappers is heard saying, “Here is the bride dressed in army uniform.”
In the video, the captives are heard crying for help.
They urge their relations to pay the terrorists the ransom demanded.
The driver of the vehicle that transported the wedding guests is also seen in the video holding a gun and pleading for the ransom to be paid.
According to Daily Trust, the bride’s family confirmed that the terrorists demanded a ransom of N100 million for the release of all kidnap victims.
“They are asking for N100 million as ransom. None of us has ever seen that amount of money; so, I told them directly that we don’t have such funds,” Haruna Abdullahi, an uncle of the bride, said.
He further said the kidnappers told him they made the video to challenge the state governor, Dikko Umar Radda, who, according to them, was supposed to have promised to rescue the hostages.
“They said they made the video to demonstrate their seriousness to the governor,” Abdullahi said, expressing appreciation for the governor’s concern and promise to rescue the victims
Abdullahi revealed that eight of his sisters and nine daughters were among the captives.
Another family member identified as Zubairu said that the abductees included his wife, six children, and 13 relatives.
