At 1:30am on February 28, 2018, about 30 armed men broke into the home of Malam Nasir Birnin-Yero, a reporter with Voice of America (VOA), in Birnin Yero, near Kaduna and kidnapped his wife and son.
The victims were released on March 2, 2018 at 9:00pm at Sabon Birni, a village near Kaduna International Airport after the journalist paid a ransom of N2 million.
The kidnappers had forced themselves into the journalist’s apartment and demanded for his whereabouts. When informed that he was not at home, they vandalised his television set and refrigerator before abducting his wife and son insisting that they must be taken to where Nasir was.
His neighbour, Sabitu Abdulhamid, who worked with the Federal Road Safety Corps, was shot dead by the kidnappers when he came out to help.
Nasir said: “When the abductors contacted me they demanded for N12 million as ransom for their release.”
“The abductors told me they came to kidnap me but they didn’t find me, so if I wanted to see my family I must pay the money or I will never see them.”
He further disclosed that after pleading with them, they agreed to take N2 million which he paid before his wife and son were released.
