Suspected gunmen have kidnapped a group of young Kano grocery traders on their way to Aba

Suspected gunmen have kidnapped a group of young Kano grocery traders on their way to Aba, Abia State in southern Nigeria.

Gunmen stopped the youths, all from Kano State, on their way to Aba on Sunday night, BBC Hausa Service is reporting.

According to the Northern Nigeria Youth Association at the Kano Central Market, the youths left for Aba last Sunday for shopping, intending to return to Kano this week.

The group said they were on their way when gunmen suspected of kidnapping people for ransom shot the tires of their bus and abducted them and more than 50 other passengers in the car. .

The group said it had not heard of their friends’ whereabouts until Wednesday, when the kidnappers demanded money before handing over the youths.

Initially, the incident took place on the Kaduna-Abuja road, but the Kaduna State Commissioner for Home Affairs and Security issued a statement saying it did not take place on the Kaduna road.

“Federal security agencies operating on the Kaduna-Abuja highway at the time did not report any such incident.

“All investigations by Kaduna State have not revealed that the incident took place across the state,” the statement said.

Abubakar Babawo, the chairman of the Northern Nigeria Young Entrepreneurs Association at Kasuwa Kwari in Kano, said: they do not exceed 300,000 naira.

“They’re just going to cut their hair to get a roof over their heads. Among them is a man who was recently weaned and given a self-reliant investor but here’s what happened.”

He added that the people had contacted the relatives of the traders being traded. “But we have already contacted the security forces,” Abubakar said.

But it is not possible for the militants to take over, as well as more than 50 people aboard a bus traveling between northern and southern Nigeria that can carry up to 100 people.

The BBC has tried to contact some of the boy’s relatives who have been abducted by gunmen, but has been unsuccessful as a result of their refusal to speak, and some of them are unaware that their children have been abducted. not.

This comes just weeks after gunmen abducted a businessman in Minjibir and set fire to a police car, but only after the ransom was paid.

Recently, Nigerians, especially drivers on the Kaduna-Abuja highway, have been wrestling with the way their captors have been blocking the road.

However, despite claims by the Nigerian authorities to address the issue, it continues to instill fear in the public.