Paul Orude, Bauchi
Kidnappers in Bauchi State have allegedly killed a 15-year-old hostage, Abubakar Sadiq Suleiman, after collecting a ransom of N5.5 million from his family.
The father of the teenage boy, Mr Mohammed Auwal Suleiman, told journalists that on Thursday, April 2nd, he’d received a phone call and was asked if he was the father of Sadiq.
He explained that his son’s abductors demanded a ransom of N10 million or else they would kill Sadiq.
“When they dropped the phone, I called my wife and asked her the whereabouts of Sadiq. She searched the house and told me that he was not around. I told her I was coming home because I was among medical doctors selected to be part of the task force on coronavirus,” the bereaved father narrated to Daily Sun.
“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 cash at hand and they sent me three different account numbers and asked me to deposit money into the three account numbers, which I complied.
“They told me after evening prayer around 7 pm that l should go and take my son in Inkil village. Later they called and asked me to go to Kangere near some churches, that I would see my son. We went there with my brothers and searched for Sadiq but we couldn’t see him.”
The father said that they returned and he received another phone call from the police who informed him they had arrested three suspects in connection with the incident and requested him to come and see the suspects because they confessed that they were responsible for the kidnapping of his son
Mr Suleiman said: “When I got there, I found that one of them purchased a brand new Mercedes Benz car for N2.3 million and they bought three phones each costing N160,000, and they said one of them was in Azare police station… all of them are in police custody
“Last Friday, they told the police they had killed him and took the police to a place where they buried the remains of Sadiq… Police invited us to the scene where they buried him. We dug the grave and found his dead body and took him to the hospital where he was certified dead by a medical doctor.
“The doctor in his report said he saw where he was stabbed on his neck and where he was hit with something on his head and they gave us his dead body. We buried him according to Islamic rights,” Sadiq’s father said.
Mr Suleiman said he wants justice to be done by the authorities in order to serve as a deterrent to others who may want to engage in this heinous act.
He believed they killed him after they collected the ransom because they allowed him to speak with his son one time after they collected the money.
Suleiman said he suspects the son of his neighbour was among the kidnappers because he was arrested and even his father went and confirmed that he is his biological son.
Police spokesman DSP Kamal Datti Abubakar confirmed the incident saying police have commenced investigation into the matter.
