Alhaji Adamu Mohammed Duguri, the elder brother of Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, has recounted his ordeal in the hands of kidnappers.
The 65- year- old retired Customs Officer, who spoke to reporters for the first time on his abduction, said the kidnappers initially demanded N350 million before they later agreed to accept N50 million.
Duguri revealed that they actually paid N50 million ransom to the kidnappers to secure his release.
The Governor’s elder brother, who was freed after spending 13 days in kidnappers’ den, disclosed that security agents had no hand in his release.
The revelation is contrary to the belief that he was rescued by security personnel in the state.
He was kidnapped on March 26 at a tailoring shop at the Unguwar Jaki area of Bauchi metropolis.
DSP Kamal Abubakar, the Police Public Relations Officer (P.P.R.O) of the State Police Command, announced his release on April 7.
Governor Bala Mohammed’s brother, who holds the traditional title of Wakilin Bauchi, told reporters, “They said they have not kidnapped somebody as big as l am. You know l was a uniformed man before. They know l knew all that they were doing.”
He said the four-man gang felt he was a threat to them and were demanding N350 million, which he told them that “when you look for that kind of money l will continue to be a liability for you here.”
He explained that he let his captors know that he has acclimatized already in their den,” adding, “I eat well. The only thing was l didn’t sleep well because it was on a mat all of us were sleeping.”
He explained that they gave him three pillows and supplied him apples with a bottle of maltina, adding that he got anything he wanted.
He added, ”l made it clear to them if you are looking for money from Bauchi State they don’t have. Or are you thinking you want to demand more money so that Bauchi State governor will bring money and you will release me and impeach him?
“Because they told me there was a kind of problem in the State Assembly which was centered on whether the governor would remove money from Bauchi coffers and release me.”
Duguri said his abductors were educated with western education, not only religious, adding that they refused to talk to avoid being traced.
“They knew what they were doing. They had to take my voice, they would later take it to Jos, relay it to somebody in Kaduna. That person then sends it to Kano before calling my family. That was what they did,” he said.
”To avoid being tracked, they went to Gombe, not Jos this time because of the anti-tracking device. To get the anti-tracking took time because i wouldn’t have stayed there long. They were even complaining that l stayed too long with them and that they were afraid.
“On the issue of ransom, they said they would come down to N100 million but I insisted that nobody will give them that amount of money. They, however, suggested that if they released me, they could collect the remaining amount later but I asked them how they will collect the money and I told them it won’t work because if you come to my house l will shout.
So we gave them the ransom but it was not up to N100 million, It was about N50 million.”
