Gunmen kidnap federal agency boss, 4 family members of district head in Yola

Adamawa State Coordinator of the National Land Development Authority (NALDA), Zakaria Kraha, has been kidnapped.

It came as the second known instance of kidnapping within the Yola capital metropolis on Tuesday as wife of a district head and her three children had been kidnapped earlier.

A close friend of the Zakariya Kraha family told Newsmen that Kraha was abducted while returning home from Makurdi, the Benue State capital.

The friend said Kraha was whisked away around Ngurore, a satellite town on the outskirts of the state capital, Yola, which has recently become notorious for kidnapping and other crimes.

Kraha’s friend said the bandits had demanded for ransom, but could not say how much.

In the first of kidnappings earlier on Tuesday, gunmen took the wife and three children of an Adamawa District Head, Ardo Mustapha Ahmadu.

A family said the wife of the district head and her three children were abducted from their residence at Yolde-Pate, a community in Yola South Local Government Area.

Ardo Ahmadu who is the District Head of Mayo-Farang, was himself kidnapped last year and had to pay out N10 million to his captors before he was released.

Spokesman of the Adamawa State Police Command, DSP Suleiman Nguroje, who confirmed the incident involving the district head’s family, said, “In the early hours of today (Tuesday) suspected bandits attacked the residence of the District Head of Mayo-Farang and kidnapped four persons: his wife and three children.

“However, the Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Barde, has directed the anti-kidnapping and counter terrorism units to go after the assailants and rescue the victims unharmed.”