Bandits in Niger State have threatened to marry off a 21-year-old woman abducted from a community in the state if her parents do not pay a ransom of N1.7 million.
It would be recalled that some persons were kidnapped along Tapila-Gwada road in Shiroro Local Government Area last Saturday, and the victim was one of them.
During the raid on the community, which is just 30 minutes from Minna, the state capital, some residents of Tapila were able to escape shortly after they were abducted by the bandits.
However, an unconfirmed number of people were taken away and remain in the custody of the bandits.
It was learned that the bandits, who initially demanded a ransom of N2 million, lowered their demand to N1.7 million after speaking with the girl’s parents on Tuesday night.
They asked the parents of the girl, identified as Deborah, to pay N1 million in cash and spend the remaining N750,000 to buy a motorcycle for them.
The girl’s aunt, who confirmed this, said: “These people are asking for N1 million ransom, buy a bike worth about 750,000 and pay the person that would come to collect the cash, or else they would marry her off to one of them. For over an hour, they were on the phone and my brother was begging them, crying.”