Gunmen kidnap six imams in northern

LAGOS

AFP Photo

Armed fighters have kidnapped six imams in a northern Nigerian state which has fallen prey to gangs demanding ransoms for release, police said yesterday.

Kidnappings have become a serious source of revenue for Nigeria’s many armed groups, both for jihadists and non-ideological gangs of criminals locally known as bandits.

On Sept. 12, “a group of armed bandits, reportedly wielding sophisticated weapons, laid an ambush along Dakko-Damri feeder road and intercepted a vehicle conveying the victims,” police in the northeastern state of Zamfara said.

“The six victims, all identified as Imams, were reportedly travelling to Talata Mafara when they were intercepted and abducted by the armed assailants,” the police statement said.

Nigerian media reported that the imams were to be guests of senator Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari. The former Zamfara state governor was organizing a religious gathering at his Talata Mafara home with an eye to challenging President Bola Tinubu’s bid for re-election in January.

“The security teams have commenced an intensive search operation, with the surrounding bushes being thoroughly combed in an effort to locate and rescue the victims and apprehend the perpetrators,” the Zamfara police said.

According to a report by Nigerian consultancy SBM Intelligence published in August, nearly $6 million in ransom money has been spent in the country over the past year.

Along with the state of the economy, the insecurity plaguing Africa’s most populous country has dominated the ongoing election campaign.