A 21-year-old suspected kidnapper, Muhammad Aliyu has narrated how he was lured into kidnapping to raise money for a business startup after his father could not provide the needed funds.
According to Aliyu, who was arrested by the police in Bauchi, he finished secondary school at Government Day Secondary School, Rimin Zayam with a good WASSCE result.
He however could not further his studies because of lack of money.
In an interview with Punch, the suspect disclosed how he and his gang of kidnappers abducted their first victim and were paid N500,000 for ransom. He was however given the sum of N60,000 as his share of the money.
He said he had hoped to start the business before he was arrested.
In his words, “I was arrested and brought to the Police headquarters because I am a kidnapper. This is my first time and we only kidnapped one person. We have released him after the payment of N500,000 ransom.
“We were four that did the operation. And I was given N60,000 as my share from the proceeds. Our boss and our friend escaped and we were arrested. I wanted to use my share of the money to start a business.
“I had a provision store at Rimin Zayam town (in Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi State). But along the line, I lost my business capital.
“So, someone enticed me to go into kidnapping so that I can get the capital to go back to business. Although I told him that I was scared because my father had warned me not to touch anything that did not belong to me.
“I asked my father to give me the capital to start the business, but he told me that he didn’t have the money and I felt I should go into kidnapping to raise the money,” he said.
When pressed on how it feels being in police custody, Muhammad said, “I feel very remorseful about the crime.
“I want the police to seek for forgiveness for me from my dad, Nigeria, from my state and from my local government area, because, insha Allah, after this, I will stop this criminal act.”
He cautioned those planning to go into kidnapping to have a rethink because it is not an honourable act.
“I want to use this medium to also warn those who have the intention of getting involved in this kind of crime that they should not, because it is not good value nor an honorable thing.
“And, if you start this, you’ll get the money but you won’t be able to account for how you spend it.
“You see, even this N60,000 that was given to me as my share, I had already spent N4,000 from it. I was arrested with the balance and I have realised that this is not a good thing to do, and I really regret involving myself in it,” Muhammad added.
Another member of the gang, Umar Jibrin, a farmer and herder, said that his friend pressured them to go into kidnapping with him but they refused, initially and had to give in when the friend’s pressure was too much.
The 20-year old said, “I was arrested and brought here because we kidnapped someone. I was enticed by one of our friends.
“He said we should go and kidnap people so we can get money from it, but we refused, but he kept pressurizing us, till we agreed to go with him. So, we went to Tudun Wada, a village here in Bauchi and then kidnapped someone.
“Muhammad and I were outside the house as guards, while the other two, including that friend that lured us, were inside. They kidnapped him, then we left with him and that was around 11 pm.
“I regret this. It was the devil that pushed me into this. We want the Police to forgive us because we will never be engaged in kidnapping again.”
The Commissioner of Police, Bauchi State, Sylvester Alabi, said that the suspects were arrested on September 13, 2021 at about 6.30pm through a joint operation by the Police and Hunters Group.