By Christian George
A newborn baby belonging to an abducted pregnant mother, Mrs Shamsiya Mustapha was reportedly killed by bandits in Kaduna State.
Daily Trust had reported that the woman, her husband, Mustapha and her 16-year-old daughter, Mahapuza Mustapha, were abducted by bandits at their residence in the Janjala community in Kagarko local area of the state on February 5, 2023.
The bandits had exempted Mrs Mustapha’s husband after the payment of two million naira ransom including a brand new motorcycle and foodstuff but refused to free the pregnant wife and daughter.
The reason for keeping back the expectant mother and her 16 years old daughter was for the bandits to get additional two million naira from Mustapha’s family.
Confirming the incident through telephone on Tuesday, a relation of the victim, Yakubu Dati, said the woman delivered the baby at the bandits’ den on Sunday.
After releasing the abducted woman, the bandits still held to the daughter and demanded N1.5 million for the girl to regain her freedom.
“You know at the time the woman was kidnapped alongside her husband and daughter, she was over seven months, until on Sunday, the bandit’s leader called the family that they should come and pick up the woman as she has delivered a child,” he said.
He went further to narrate how the family tried to enquire from the bandit’s leader about the way about of the newly born baby, and the leader told the family that they have killed the baby.
“So, what the family had to do was to go and pick up the woman at a location back home and she is on treatment at a private hospital in Kagarko town, except the other major concern is how to raise N1.5 million to see that her daughter is released is what is left, “he continued.
Takaki of Janjala, Samaila Babangida, who also confirmed the incident expressed shock over the killing of the newborn, adding that “we are under siege here in Janjala due to activities of bandits who sometimes invade people’s houses in broad daylight and whisk them away at gunpoint,” he said
However, the source added that as of the time of filling this report, the Kaduna state police command had not reacted to the incident.
