From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
When Mrs. Zainab Mohammed was abducted in early July along with two sisters, she was heavily pregnant. But her condition did not deter the abductors from moving her and her siblings into a deep forest in Kaduna State.
Following the birth of the baby in the kidnappers’ den, Mrs. Zainab is now a mother of three. The first two children were not kidnapped with her. But every day they continue to ask their father: “where is Mummy? Go and bring her.”
The terrorists had on July 17 stormed Lema community in the Mando area of Kaduna metropolis and abducted the pregnant housewife and her sisters. Apparently, Zainab was seven months pregnant when she was kidnapped, having delivered the baby in captivity in first week of September.
Family source said the newborn, a female, has been crying since she was delivered without recourse to medical or human care for mother and child. The baby and the mother have been subjected to traumatising and excruciating pain in the kidnappers’ den, an unfriendly environment.
A family member of the embattled sisters said after the terrorists reduced their ransom from N140 million to N50 million, they warned that they would not listen to any communication from the victims’ family unless the N50 million was paid.
However, at the time of filing this report, family members said they have raised some amount of money, but was not up to the terrorists’ request. To this end, they have cried out to the federal and Kaduna State governments for help.
It was gathered that the three sisters were kidnapped at their family house where they were tending to their sick mother. Their mother, who could walk unaided before the incident, has now been confined to the wheelchair due to the trauma of her children’s abduction.
The husband to the nursing mother and father of three, including the baby born in captivity, Mohammed Alabi, has appealed to government, organisations and well to do individuals to come to their aid as the two children at home are asking for their mother.
He said: “My pregnant wife left my house to her parent’s house to cater for her sick mother, only for me to receive a call that they have been kidnapped with her sisters.
“She gave birth at the kidnappers’ camp on Friday August 2; mother and child are not feeling fine, they have not received any medical care. The baby cries from night till morning inside the forest.
“We learnt they were being mistreated, flogged. Our two children at home cry everyday, telling me ‘daddy, go and bring our mother’ and I don’t know what to tell them. We are all dying emotionally and physically. We are appealing to whoever God will use to secure their release to please help us free them.”
Alabi added that they have been subjected to harsh whether conditions, eating and drinking whatever was available in the kidnappers’ den.
Recounting the family’s ordeal, father of the nursing mother and her sisters, Malam AbdulWahab Yusuf, said the bandits broke into their Mando home about 1:05am on that fateful day.
He said: ‘My two daughters used to take care of their mother who is sick. That day their elder sister, who was pregnant, came from her husband’s house to look after her mother. When the bandits broke into the house, I ran out and jumped the back fence but my three daughters were kidnapped and taken to the forest.
“They asked for N140 million, but now they have reduced the ransom to N50 million. The family has been adversely affected by the trauma. My wife, who was able to walk unaided before the incident, now uses wheelchair. We just carried out a surgery on her. I have not been myself, I cannot sleep, once it is night I don’t know how my body feels.”
Also speaking, the elder brother of the kidnapped sisters, Kabiru Yusuf, said: “Since the kidnap, we have been negotiating with them. The bandits initially demanded N140 million but we pleaded with them that we are poor people, so they reduced it to N100. We pleaded with them further and they reduced it to N50 million last week Saturday and threatened that if we don’t have the N50 million ready, we should not call them again.
“My sisters lamented to me on Sunday that they were being maltreated, and that the bandits’ commander wants to leave the camp and may not return until after a while, so we should talk to them. But when I told them that we have sold everything we have but what we raised is not tangible and we don’t have anything to sell again they started crying and I broke down weeping too.
“We are appealing to the Federal Government, Kaduna state government charity organisations, philanthropists and well spirited individuals to assist us in securing their release. We don’t want anything to happen to them; if anything happens to them only God knows what effect it would have on our mother, who is now on wheelchair because of their abduction.”