Released Niger State Commissioner Says Abduction, Politically Motivated

By Akinwale Kasali

Released Niger State Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Muhammad Sani Idris, says  his abduction was politically motivated.

Idris, after his release on Thursday said  the bandits who abducted him were hired by political foes, but God saved him miraculously.

Speaking after his release from the kidnappers den, Idris claimed that he was kidnapped by bandits from Zamfara who were hired by his foes to kill him.

He revealed that the said kidnappers were told to kill him if he refused to pay a ransom of N200 million, but he failed to disclose  the amount  paid for his release.

“The people that kidnapped me, please don’t curse them because before I left them I told them I have forgiven them, and they promised me that they would quit banditry because of me”.

He added that kidnappers don’t know the village where he was taken to properly, but they were hired from Zamfara State to kidnap me.

“They said monthly, the Niger State Governor gives me N200 million and if I give them less than N200 million I should be killed. I have forgiven the kidnappers and those people that hired them”, he said.

Idris, who was abducted by gunmen in the early hours of Monday from his country home in Babban-Tunga community along Abuja/Kaduna highway in the state, got back to the community around 9:30pm Thursday.

Niger State has come under heavy and persistent activities of bandits who raid communities and abduct people.