The kidnappers of 18 traders from the Kantin Kwari Textile Market, Kano, who were abducted on the Lokoja-Benin Highway have insisted on collecting N25m ransom before they will be released.

The traders were on their way to Aba in Abia State when the incident happened on Sunday.

According to him, they are negotiating on behalf of members, who registered, with the association, adding that other traders kidnapped, whose number he cannot ascertain were from Zamfara and neighbouring states but all members of the association.

Meanwhile, I have been and still negotiating, with the abductors on behalf of our registered members on the ransom to be paid to enable my members regain their freedom.

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The President, Arewa Youth Traders’ Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Abubakar Babao, confirmed the incident to newsmen in a telephone interview in Kano on Thursday, adding that 18 of the 27 kidnapped victims were members of the body from Kano State.

He said the traders were abducted in Auchi, Edo State.

He said the kidnappers initially demanded N50m for the release of the traders after establishing contact with their families.

“But now, they are asking for N25m for all of them to regain their freedom. It is sad that most of the victims are small-scale traders as some of them don’t even have up to N400,000. Where do the abductors expect them to raise the amount being demanded as ransom?” he queried.

He said the gunmen shot at the tyres of the luxury bus conveying the traders and forced it to an abrupt halt before abducting the victims.

“The traders were on their way to Aba on Sunday to buy goods on Monday and return to Kano on Tuesday when the kidnappers shot at their luxury bus,” Babao stated.

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Babao said the association had reported the incident to the Department of State Services, the police in Kano as well as to the Kano Government House.

He appealed to Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and the Federal Government to intervene in order to ensure the release of the abducted traders as their families were in trauma.

When contacted by one of our correspondents on Thursday, the Public Relations Officer of the Kano State Police Command, DSP Abdullahi Haruna, said the incident should have been reported to the command in charge of the area where the incident happened.

“The Lokoja-Benin Highway is not the jurisdiction of Kano State Police Command. So, they should go and report the matter where it happened,” he said.

The Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said security agencies operating on the Kaduna-Abuja Road had yet to report any such incident.

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“Checks conducted so far by the Kaduna State Government indicate that the kidnapping occurred elsewhere in another state,” he stated.