Another Kano businessman killed after ransom payment

SSuspected kidnappers operating along the Kaduna-Birnin Gwari axis killed another Kano businessman, Umar Sani, after collecting a ransom from his relatives.
The businessman, also called Magaji, was abducted two weeks ago along with five other people on the highway en route to Buruku, but was later confirmed killed by his fellow abductees despite collecting a ransom for their release.
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The deceased was from Fagge Local Government Area in Kano Metropolis.
An elder brother of the deceased, Hussaini Sani, who confirmed the death to our correspondent on Friday, also said the kidnappers called back on Thursday to demand an additional 20 million naira from them despite the businessman‘s murder.
“Nine of them were abducted along the Kaduna-Birnin Gwari road on their way to Buruku. Later, they released three of them but held six.
“After a while negotiations started with the families of the six people, and we then agreed to pay them collectively, only for us to see five of them return.
“When we asked them where our brother was, they confirmed that he had been killed by the kidnappers. We called them (the kidnappers) using the number they used for negotiation and they insisted our brother was still alive, and even went ahead to demand another ransom before we they don’t release him.
“When we insisted on hearing our brother’s voice before paying again, they told us he had really been killed, saying he was trying to escape. But his colleagues who were released said he was killed intentionally,” Hussain added.
Magaji is survived by his wife and four children, who currently reside in the Bichi local government area of the state.
His death comes just 10 days after the corpse of another businessman’s family was found after paying a 6 million naira ransom to his captors in the same Birnin Gwari.