According to the Daily Nigerian, the family of the abducted managing director of Bank of Agriculture, Alwan Ali-Hassan, allegedly paid a significant sum of N100 million to guarantee his release.
Mr Hassan was rescued on Wednesday after spending nearly nine days in captivity after being kidnapped on March 28 along with hundreds of other passengers on an Abuja-Kaduna train.
Despite the terrorists’ allegation in a short video made using the managing director’s phone that no ransom was paid, family sources said N100 million was paid before he was released.
According to the source, the kidnappers had previously shown the family a video showing the horrible ordeal the captives, including Mr Hassan, were going through in order to raise the ransom.
“They sent the footage of their horrific condition a few days ago in order to raise their investment.” ‘Give them whatever much they want,’ Alwan would usually say. “So the family handed them what they demanded… N100 million,” one of the family insiders explained.
The kidnappers, according to the source, first instructed the family to transport the money to a forest in Katsina on Tuesday before directing them to a woodland in Kaduna.
After the family representatives traveled for hours in the jungle, the gunmen appeared fully armed in their hundreds and took the money, according to the source.