We paid N6.6m ransom — Katsina community counters Governor Matawalle of Zamfara state over rescue of 26 Katsina girls

The village head of Dan-Aji community in Faskari local government area of Zamfara state, Lawal Dogara has countered Governor Matawalle on how 26 girls from the community were rescued in Zamfara state which he governs.

The Zamfara State Governor in a tweet shared on his official Twitter handle had said that the young girls from Katsina state were rescued on November 6 following the state government’s intervention.

Matawalle tweeted; 

Today, I interracted with 26 rescued girls after medical professionals have ascertained their physical and mental fitness following days of trauma suffered in kidnappers den. The young girls kidnapped from Katsina State were rescued on 6/11/2020 as a result of our intervention.

I’ll continue to commit to our dual kinetic and non-kinetic approaches for dealing with armed banditry bedeviling the Northwestern region of Nigeria. Inspite of the myriads of socioeconomic challenges we inherited in Zamfara State.

We’re managing the meager resources at our disposal to tackle regional insecurity without overwhelming the Federal Government with requests for monetary intervention. Through our non-kinetic strategy, we secured the unconditional freedom of these 26 young and innocent girls after spending 1 week in captivity. The rescued girls are on their way to reunite with their parents after proper handing over to Katsina State Government.

However the community leader who made a clarification on how the girls were rescued in an interview with reporters on Monday November 9, said they paid N6.6 million to secure the release of the 26 girls who were abducted from the village on October 13.

Lawal Dogara said this was made possible by the efforts of their parents and the community. He also revealed that the money was handed over to two community leaders; Abdulkarim Dan Aji and Liman Babangida Dan-Aji who delivered the ransom to the kidnappers after trekking for three days into the forest.

He said;

“Governor Matawalle was never involved in their release; it was purely efforts of the parents and the community leaders that secured the victims’ release.

“The governor of Zamfara state should stop claiming credit for the release of our women, because we paid for their release.”

Dogara also revealed that 15 people were killed during the attack launched against the community by the kidnappers.