Eko Hot Blog reports that the leader of an Abuja-based music band, Adewunmi Samuel Softmade, has disclosed the amount his group paid as ransom to kidnappers for their release.
The band leader, alongside his crew, were abducted in December 2023 while returning from a show in Kogi State.
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The 13-man group was later released after a few days in captivity.
Nigeria Police Force
Sharing his experience during a recent interview with BBC Yoruba, the band leader stated that the kidnappers fixed their ransom at N10 million per person before reducing it to N7 million, which brought the total amount to N91 million.
He said, “We were 13 that went to perform at a burial ceremony in Itakete Isao, close to Isan-Olu in Kogi State. And we had to move by road because they don’t have an airport in Kogi.
We had gone since Thursday. We finished performing at about 5:30 pm on Friday. So we felt that there was still time to return to Abuja. The incident happened just after we have past Dangote Cement.
“We spent six days with the kidnappers inside a very thick forest and the six days felt like six years because a lot of things happened in that forest.
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“They asked for N10 million each. We started begging their commandant that we could not gather N10 million. He later reduced it to N7 million each.
IGP, Kayode Egbetokun
“When we received the information that the money had been completed but there was no cash during the December period, we started looking for cash. They initially agreed that the money be converted to dollars, but their leader later changed his mind and insisted on naira.”
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