Abducted lecturer mistaken for govt official

BY NDAHI MARAMA
Maiduguri — The abducted University of Maiduguri lecturer, Dr Abba Kagu, said to have been kidnapped on Saturday by gunmen in Maiduguri was reportedly mistaken for an in-law of a top official of Borno State government prompting  his abductors to demand N5million from his family,  it was learnt.

Investigations revealed that the abductors had initially demanded N100 million ransom for the release of the supposed target and a brother in-law to a very senior elected political office holder in the state.

This came even as a retired civil servant from National Population Commission and now  lecturer at same university (name witheld) yesterday cheated death when some suspected ‘’terrorists brushed his face with gunshots’’ on his way to buy feeds for his animals.

In recent times, abduction has became a source of concern to the people of troubled Maiduguri, as businessmen, and well -to- do individuals have been kidnapped and later freed after their families paid ransom to the abductors.

The abductors, according to the colleagues of the kidnapped lecturer realised they were holding the wrong person when they read yesterday’s newspapers where the true identity of the lecturer was unveiled.

’’When they called us on phone this morning, we pleaded with them to kindly release him since they now realise he wasn’t their target; but they insisted that we must pay N5 million instead of 100 million,’’ one of his colleagues who spoke on the condition of anonymity said.

Efforts to get comments from security officials on the issue proved abortive.