- Zamfara University student, aged 21, was abducted alongside her siblings on November 3, 2024.
- The kidnappers reduced the ransom from ₦35 million to ₦10 million but then demanded additional items before releasing her.
- Despite fulfilling these demands, she remained in captivity and tragically died after four months.
Tragedy has struck Zamfara State with the death of 21-year-old Zarah Abubakar Shehu, a third-year student at the Federal University Gusau. Zarah was abducted along with her two siblings from her home in the Damba area of Gusau in the early hours of Sunday, November 3, 2024, by armed bandits.
EKO HOT BLOG gathered that initially, the kidnappers demanded a ₦35 million ransom, which was later negotiated down to ₦10 million.
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However, even after the ransom was paid, the kidnappers refused to release her. According to counter-insurgency expert Zagazola Makama, they insisted on additional demands four motorcycles (Boza) and four cartons of engine oil before considering her release.
Despite extensive efforts to meet these new demands, Zarah’s kidnappers later revealed that she had died and was buried two days earlier. Zarah, the only daughter of her mother, endured four months in captivity before her untimely demise.
In a separate incident, terrorists suspected to be affiliated with the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) attacked a commercial vehicle on the Maiduguri-Banki road in Borno State.
The attack, which took place on February 27 at about 1:15 p.m. near the abandoned village of Tufa in Banki Local Government Area, left one person injured and the driver taken hostage.
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Bello Abba, the driver of the vehicle (registration number Adamawa JMT 994 YR), recounted that while transporting six passengers from Maiduguri to Banki, armed assailants on motorcycles emerged from the bushes and opened fire.
In an attempt to evade the attackers, he made a U-turn back toward Banki town. During the assault, a passenger, 38-year-old Mohammed Ali Yaye from Bama town, was shot in the left leg.
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