A 45-year-old cattle owner, who was kidnapped in Bimbilla in the Nanumba North municipality of the Northern Region has been released after a ransom of GHS100,000 was paid to persons who allegedly kidnapped him.
The victim, Afa Jamel, was said to have been abducted last Thursday evening.
According to reports, this is the third time such a case has been recorded in the area in less than a year with all the victims being nomads.
Jamel, a Bimbilla resident, is married to two wives and has six children.
According to him, he was lured by a woman who came to him in Bimbilla.
The kidnappers, according to the victim, took him to Nkwanta in the Oti Region where they asked him to call his family and say he had been kidnapped.
Jamel added that he was tortured and was released after his family paid the ransom.
“I was seriously tortured, and I pleaded with my people to do all that they could to raise the money to save me. They took me to Nkwanta area and that is where they live. They are my own people, Fulanis”.
His cattle were sold in order to raise the money for the ransom.
“Now I do not have any cattle left, everything was sold in order to raise the amount demanded. I still owe some monies because the cattle money was not sufficient,” Jamel said.
Alhaji Fusheini Kunkuna, a butcher and a friend of the victim, also recounted the struggle they went through before raising the ransom.
“When he was kidnapped, they called the chief of Fulanis and told him to help me and Issahaku Damba so that we quickly mobilize the money. When we called him, the kidnappers told us to bring GHS100,000 else he would not be released. We told them that, for GHS 100,000, we can’t afford it, so we could give them 40,000.”
“They disagreed and told us that even one pesewa is not going to reduce from the hundred thousand else they would kill him. We told them; we don’t have the money. We were still on that when the victim himself told us if we don’t pay the money, they will kill him.”
Jamel told his friends that if they continued to delay, he would lose his life.
“We contacted more than 10 people in town and anyone we go to, they tell us even GHS100, they can’t afford. Things were hard. When we finally told them, we have gotten the GHS100,000, they stopped torturing him,” Alhaji Fusheini recounted.
“They then told us that they would direct us as to what to do. Anytime they called, after the call they would switch off the phone unless they are looking for us that they will call.”
“They told us to give the money to two Fulani guys in town to bring it to Damanko. From Damanko, they further instructed them to go to Nkwanta. The people are around Nkwanta in the Oti Region along the Togo lane.”
Alhaji Fusheini added that they could not report to the police because the kidnappers were monitoring their activities.
“We reported it to the police on our own, but the Fulani family didn’t want us to report it because it’s like the kidnappers were monitoring us and every move, we make they know. It’s like some of the kidnappers are with us and everything we do the members within us inform the kidnappers on our move.”
The acting Municipal chief Executive for Bimbila, Abdulai Yaqoub, assured that some measures are being taken to tackle the insecurity.
“As part of the measures we are taking, because this is becoming rampant in the municipality, we are going to hold a joint MUSEC and DISEC meeting on Thursday to discuss the issue before it gets out of hands.”
