Kidnappers kill 15 Year Son Of A Member Of Bauchi COVID-19 Medical Team After Collecting N5.5m Ransom

BY ADEYEMI AKANJI, BAUCHI – Suspected Kidnappers in Bauchi State that abducted a 15 year old boy, Abubakar Sadiq Suleiman, have allegedly killed their abductee after collecting N5.5 million ransom. 

Narrating the unfortunate incident to journalists in Bauchi after the funeral of the young Abubakar, the father of the victim, Mohammed Auwal Suleiman, said that it was on Thursday, Aril 2, 2020, that he received a call on his phone and was asked if he is the father of Abubakar Sadiq for which he responded in the affirmative.

Suleiman further said; “The voice of the caller then told me that they have abducted my son and they need N10,000,000 or else they will kill him if I didn’t bring the N10 million.”

He continued; “When they dropped the phone, I immediately called my wife and asked her the where about of Sadiq and she searched the House and told me that he was not around. I then told her I am coming because I was among the Medical Doctors selected to be part of the Taskforce on Corona virus. “I drove back home and after two days they called me again and asked me to give them N7 million. They collected some amount of money in cash at hand and they sent me three different account numbers and asked me to deposit money in to the three account numbers which I complied. They told me that after evening prayer around 7pm, I should go and take my son in Inkil village. Later, they called me and asked me to go to Kangere near a Church that I will see my son.

“We went there with my brothers and searched for the boy but we didn’t see him”. We came back and after we came, I received a phone call from the Police because the matter was reported to them. They (Police) told me that they have arrested three suspects in connection with the incident and I should come and see them because they confessed that they are responsible for the kidnapping of my son.”

Suleiman added; “When I went there, I found that one of them (suspected kidnappers) purchased a brand new Mercedes Benz car for N2.3mn and they bought three mobile phones each costing the sum of N160,000, and they said one of them is in Azare and the Police went and arrested him. All of them are in Police custody.”

Suleiman further said that last week Friday, the Police told him and members of his family that the suspects said the people that abducted the boy have killed him and took the Police to a place where they buried the remains of the young Sadiq.

He said that after the Police saw the place, they invited the family to the scene where they buried Sadiq in a dug shallow grave where his lifeless body was found.

Suleiman also said; “We then took his dead body to the hospital where he was certified dead by a medical Doctor.”

The sad father of the murdered 15 year old boy said that the Doctor in his report, said he saw where Sadiq was stabbed on his neck and where he was hit with something on his head.

He said; “The hospital gave us his (Sadiq) dead body and we buried him according to Islamic rights”.

Suleiman said that all he wants is justice to be done to assuage his son’s death by the authorities in order to serve as a deterrent to others who may want to carry out such heinous act against others.

In the words of Suleiman; “We believe they killed him after they collected the ransom because they allowed me to speak with my boy one time after they collected the money.” 

Suleiman said that he is suspecting the son of one of his neighbors to be among the people that kidnapped his son adding that he is one of the suspects arrested and even his father went to the Police and confirmed that the suspect is his biological son.

The Bauchi State Command Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Kamal Datti Abubakar confirmed the incident, adding that the Police has commenced investigation in to the matter.