Kidnappers Of Bright Mass Transit Passengers Demand N5m Ransom

Abductors of passengers of an Abuja-bound bus, kidnapped at Ette, a border community between Enugu and Kogi states, have demanded N5m ransom on each of the passengers before their release.

One of the captives, whose calls to her relatives for payment of ransom are being monitored by THE WHISTLER asked her father, “Have you raised the sum?” She asked in Igbo, but was asked to speak in pidgin by her captors.

She continued in a blend of pidgin, “Any amount you fit raise, tell me. Since three days now, we never eat anything. Call our relatives make them help. Borrow, I go repay when I commot here. My leaving here na the matter.”

As the conversation was ongoing, the captor, in a Fulani accent, asked the relative, “How much una don raise? N100, 000? You no dey serious. We go deal with you.”

When the captor was asked how much was demanded by a relative of the victim, the suspected herder shouted, “How much he tell you? We go show him say we no dey play.”

While the conversation was on, echoes of vehicles in motion were being heard.

THE WHISTLER reported yesterday that a bus belonging to Bright Mass, fully loaded with passengers, and headed for Abuja from Ebonyi, was Wednesday evening intercepted by suspected Fulani herders, and all the passengers kidnapped.

It was however, reported that about three captives escaped, although their whereabouts are still unknown.