28-7-2025
Thirty eight kidnap victims have been massacred by bandits after collecting N50m ransom payment.
The victims were taken from Banga village in Kaura Namoda Local Government Area of Zamfara State. They were forcibly taken away in June during a raid by the bandits on the community.
Kaura-Namoda LGA chairman, Mannir Haidara Kaura, confirmed the tragedy on Monday, stating that 56 villagers were initially abducted during the raid.
“From the information I got as the Chairman of the local government, 56 were abducted by the bandits and only 18 returned,” Haidara Kaura told Channels TV.
“We took the remaining 18 people to the hospital, they are on medication. We are also preparing to go with the state government to go and see the families of those that lost their lives.”
A resident of the village, Ibrahim Banga, said that the bandits had invaded the community months ago and took away dozens of people.
“They demanded ₦1 million per hostage,” Banga said.
“After several weeks, the community managed to raise and deliver over ₦50 million to secure their release.”
Shockingly, the kidnappers only released 18 people, and the rest were reportedly slaughtered one after the other during captivity.
“Upon their return, the freed victims recounted how the bandits had slaughtered the remaining 35 abductees,” he added.
The villagers are now calling on the federal and Zamfara State governments to deploy military operations to the area to restore peace, enable the return of displaced persons, and rescue any remaining captives.