Alhaji Nura Jibrin, the Village Head of Dutsen Abba in Zaria Local Government, Kaduna State said his three children who were abducted alongside four other residents of the village on June 9, have escaped.
The village head told newsmen in Zaria on Thursday that seven people were abducted from the village but four were released on June 26 after payment of N3 million as ransom.
He said the three children who escaped were Halima Falalu-Umar, 10, Bashir Nura-Umar, 7, and Khadija Falalu-Umar 7.
Jibrin disclosed that sometimes in July, a few days to Eid-el-Kabir festival, the kidnappers demanded for additional money and N500, 000 was paid to them, but they refused to release the children.
He added that on Aug. 6, the kidnappers demanded for a new motorcycle or additional N300, 000 to release the three children, but the request was not honoured by the victims’ family.
“While waiting in anticipation, on Aug. 8, 59 days after the incident, I was informed that my children escaped from the kidnappers and they were at Sabon Birni in Igabi Local Government.
“The caller linked me to the children. Afterwards, we went to Sabon Birni and brought them home,’’ the village head said.
Narrating her ordeal, Halima Falalu-Umar said they ran away from their abductors in the night while it was raining and the person assigned to guard them was sleeping.
She added that shortly after leaving the camp together with some other abducted children, they met someone along the way who asked them where they were going in the night and they lied to him that some people freed them and left them stranded.
According to her, the man insisted to know if they ran away from any camp and the children maintained their position.