2 Kidnappers In Taraba Choose Repentance, And Yield To Hunters!

 Gayya Alhaji Abdu (20) and Siyyo Alhaji Amadu (21), two kidnappers, have confessed to their crimes and come before the Taraba State hunting commanders, claiming to have made the decision to cease kidnapping. 

Gayya revealed to Daily Trust that he took part in abduction operations twice, receiving N200,000 each time after the victims paid a ransom of N5 million apiece. 

Gayya claimed that after learning that he was on the wanted list of suspected kidnappers, he joined a gang of kidnappers. He added that at the time his name was added, he had never committed any crime, much less kidnapping, and that's why he fled his father's house, thinking that if he was caught, he would be killed.

According to Gayya, he fled to a friend who was already collaborating with a group of abductors in the Jalingo, Kona, and Lankabiri mountain regions.

“It was my friend that took me to a kidnappers’ den on top of a mountain around Kona. The gang was under the control of one kingpin called Bashe,” he explained. 

“On the mountain, l met many victims because all those that were abducted would be taken there and released after ransom is paid

"l decided to repent because l could not withstand the horror and the ways and manners the victims were being treated, and also, l don’t want to be killed because most of the kidnappers end up being killed by security agents or hunters.”

He further stated that he had joined a kidnapping group on his own in the Ardo-Kola LGA's Mayo-Renewo area and that he wanted to be a part of hunters and actively take part in the ongoing battle against bandits and kidnappers in the state of Amadu.

He admitted to the publication that he had taken part in kidnapping on several occasions before deciding to quit and turn from it.

“I decided to stop kidnapping and repent because l discovered that it is a very wicked act to abduct a fellow human being and force him to pay ransom," he stated. 

The head of the hunters, Babangida Kwamando, said that he always took in bandits or kidnappers who turned themselves in.

He claimed that the hunters' association supported the repentance and renunciation of the crime of bandits and kidnappers.

“Kidnappers and bandits that repent are made to swear by the Holy Qur’an that they will never commit such crimes before they are accepted and integrated into the hunters’ association,” he stated.