A senior police officer abducted on his way to report to his new duty post in Kaduna State is still in the hands of his abductors, 63 days after the incident.
CSP Mohammed Gyadi-Gyadi was kidnapped on the morning of June 27, 2022, while driving to report for duty at the Police Division in Birnin Gwari town, the headquarters of Birnin Gwari Local Government Area.
Birnin Gwari is one of the local governments heavily infested with bandits and terrorists with the gunmen exercising control of many villages in the area.
It was gathered that Gyadi-Gyadi was abducted on his way to Buruku, a village appointed as rendezvous for him to be received by his men who had come from Birnin Gwari to give him security cover through the dangerous Buruku-Birnin Gwari Road.
He was reporting to duty after his transfer from his former post at Pambegua in Kubau Local Government Area, where he was said to have performed well thus the new posting.
Since the abduction, there has been no formal statement from the police authorities in both Kaduna and Abuja.
Around the time of Gyadi-Gyadi’s, another DPO in charge of Nassarawa Eggon Local Government, in Nasarawa State, CSP Haruna Abdulmalik, was also abducted while on his way to inspect his men on duty.
Unlike Gyadi-Gyadi, Abdulmalik was lucky and got freed after four days in captivity. It is however unclear if the N5 million ransom demanded by his abductors was paid or not.
This month, another DPO in Zamfara State, CSP Usman Ali, was abducted around his area of operation in Magami District of Gusau Local Government Area. He was freed penultimate Friday after spending five days in the hands of the kidnappers.
Family, colleagues unable to raise N20m ransom
A colleague of the abducted police officer who spoke with Daily Trust on the condition of anonymity decried what he called the “nonchalant attitude” of the police authorities to the fate of their colleague.
It was gathered that the abductors initially asked for N200 million ransom but the amount was beaten down after intensive negotiation to N20 million.
“Some of us came together to rally round for the amount because he is from a poor family, which largely depends on him. As we speak, we were only able to raise N5.6 million; N5 million was raised through contributions from colleagues here, and we got N600,000 from Pambegua, his last post.
“We know the government has a policy of not paying for ransom but I think this is an exceptional case because everyone knows Oga Gyadi-Gyadi to be very committed to his job. Abandoning him is sending a very bad signal to some of us in service,” he said.
Police decline comments
Police authorities declined comments on the continuous captivity of the senior police officer, yesterday.
Contacted for comment, the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, referred our reporter to the Kaduna command of the police, which he said, was “in the best position to speak”.
But spokesman for the Kaduna Police Command, DSP Mohammed Jalige did not answer calls placed by our reporter. He also did not respond to a text message sent to his phone.
