Victim Describes Kidnappers’ Demand: “Place Ransom Money on the Floor and Cross It”

Baraka Abdulkarim, a 26-year-old final-year student at the School of Health, Makarfi, Zaria, Kaduna State, shared her experience of being kidnapped on December 1, 2024, and how she survived during an interview with The Punch correspondent.

Baraka, who is from Oyo State, was traveling from Zaria to Funtua in Katsina State. She couldn’t find a taxi, so she decided to take a private car with a woman and her six children. At a place called Maraba Maska, the driver stopped and said he ran out of fuel, so they were transferred to another car.

The new car had four men, all Fulani. When they were near Funtua Junction, Baraka told the driver she wanted to get off, but he ignored her. That’s when three of the men revealed they were carrying hidden guns—they were kidnappers.

They passed by some soldiers on the way, but despite Baraka and the others shouting for help, the soldiers didn’t see them. Eventually, the kidnappers forced everyone out of the car and took them into a thick forest.

Narrating how she was freed, she claimed after the kidnappers and her uncle agreed on the amount of money to be paid as ransom, and after spending 13 days with them, her uncle sent one of his boys to bring ransom to the kidnappers. When he brought it, they kidnapped him as well and till now, the boy is still with them.

She said, “The way those people collect the ransom is that when anybody takes the money to them, they will ask the person to put the money on the floor and cross over it three times. After that, they asked the person to pack the sand under his feet and pour it on the money. After that, the kidnappers would touch the money.”

She claimed the kidnappers later told her the ransom had been paid and asked if she wanted to leave that night or wait until morning. She insisted on leaving that night, despite their warning that she might encounter more kidnappers on her way out. They took her on a bike through the forest, driving without lights. They fell off the bike three times, and she got hurt on her leg.

Around 10pm, they dropped her off at the edge of the forest, without shoes, and told her to go straight. She ran until she found a house, where she entered and started crying, as the man she met there, with his children, were reciting the Quran.