A 15-year-old teenager has been killed by his abductors in Bauchi despite the payment of N5.5 million ransom by his parents after promising to release him, his father disclosed on Sunday, April 12.
The kidnappers abducted the teenager, Abubakar Sadiq Suleiman, collected a ransom of N5.5 million from his parents but rather than release him, they went ahead to kill him and buried his body at a place where his parents and policemen found it.
Narrating the incident in Bauchi on Sunday, April 12 shortly after the funeral prayers of the boy, the father, Malam Mohammed Auwal Suleiman, said that on Thursday, April 2, he was called on his mobile phone and was asked if he was the father of Sadiq to which he said yes.
The caller then told him that they have abducted his son and will need the sum of N10 million or else they will kill him if he didn’t bring the money as soon as possible.
According to the father, “when they dropped the phone, I called my wife and asked her where was Sadiq and she searched the house and told me that he was not around. I told her I was coming because I was among those selected to be part of the task force on coronavirus.
“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 and sent me three different account numbers and asked me to deposit money in them and I complied. They then told me that after the evening prayers, I should go and take my son in Inkil village. I paid a total of N5.5 million.
“Later they called and asked me to go to Kangere near a church and that I will see my son. We went there with my brothers and searched for the boy but we didn’t see him.”
He also said that “we came back and after that, I received a phone call from the police because the matter was reported to them. They told me that they have arrested three suspects in connection with the incident and that I should come and see them because they confessed that they are responsible for the kidnapping of my son.
“Last Friday, police told us that the suspects said that the boy had been killed and they took us and the police to a place where they buried the remains of Sadiq. We dug the grave and found his body, so we took the body to a mortuary.”
When contacted on the incident, Bauchi State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Kamal Datti Abubakar, confirmed the incident and said that the police has since commenced investigations into the matter.
