Kidnappers who abducted ophthalmologist Ganiya Olawale-Popoola, her husband Air Force officer Nurudeen Popoola, and their teenage guest AbdulMugniy Folaranmi in Kaduna State have threatened to kill the victims unless their families pay a N100 million ransom.
The victims were taken from the National Eye Centre Quarters in Kaduna on December 27, 2023. Despite attempts to negotiate a reduced ransom, the abductors insisted on the N100 million demand. The family source revealed that the kidnappers, who initially set January 18 as the deadline, reaffirmed their threat to kill the couple if the ransom was not paid by contacting the family on Friday, January 26.
The family has sought assistance from the Air Force and police authorities, who assured them of efforts to secure the victims’ release.
“We have reached out to the police and the Air force but what they kept telling us was that they were working to get them released from their abductors. They (the police and Air Force) told us that they had been careful not to get the victims injured while rescuing them.
“We are appealing as a family to the Nigerian government to help us secure the release of our family members. It has been over a month since they were abducted and we are exhausted as a family. There is no way we can raise the N100m ransom the kidnappers are demanding,” the source said.
When contacted on Monday, the Kaduna State Police Public Relations Officer, Mansir Hassan, said the command was making efforts to get the abductees released without casualties.
“There are lots of kidnapping cases that we recorded in recent times. We have been able to rescue some of the victims and arrest some of the kidnappers. The police are not relenting in making sure that all the abducted victims are rescued from their abductors but we want to make sure there is no casualty while we are rescuing them,” Hassan disclosed.
