As Kidnap Drama for Judge Janet Gimba’s Three Children Reaches Deadline Day for Ransom
By Luka Binniyat and Mike Odeh
(Kaduna) – A former Nigeria Labour Leader, Comrade Takai Shemang, 75, was kidnapped Friday along Kaura, Manchok road, Kaura county [Local Governance Area], about 115 miles, South of Kaduna, family sources confirmed to Truth Nigeria Monday. Takai is among the 4,000 Nigerian kidnap-for-ransom victims taken each year that have made Nigeria the kidnap capital of Africa.
As Secretary General of Nigeria Senior Staff Electricity Workers Takai led an unprecedented strike in October 1985 leading to the shutdown of Nigeria power grid lines for three days over unfavorable government policies to Nigerian workers
The military junta of the time, under Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, arrested 11 leaders of the workers, tried them under a military tribunal and sentenced them to death, generating global uproar.
They were accused of treason.
The sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment, and they later were granted state pardon.
Takai was kidnapped Friday, July 5, near Kaura town on his way home after attending the funeral of his brother-in-law, Joshua Kaffoi, in Samaru Kataf, Zangon Kataf County some 15 miles east of where he was abducted.
Bandits demand US$200,000 ransom
“They called on Saturday (6th July, 2024) and asked for N300 million (US$200,000 dollars),” a family source said to TruthNigeria.
“They are holding him somewhere on the Kagoro mountain which shares a long border with Plateau State,” the source added.
“That’s where they take all those that they kidnapped along that road,” the source added.
The source said that the kidnappers are Fulani [tribe], armed Muslim gangsters who had sacked many of the local farming communities on the eastern part of Kagoro hills since 2018.
Kidnappers Release Judge, reduce ransom on children to US$100,000
Meanwhile the kidnappers of Judge Janet Galadima-Gimba and her four children released her last Thursday after killing her 14-year-old son.
TruthNigeria has reported that Judge Janet, was kidnapped June 23 , 2024 with her four sons from their Mahuta, Kaduna home. Victor Gimba, her 14-year-old son was shot dead by the terrorists while in captivity on July 2, 2024.
Isua Gimba, an uncle to the kidnapped children, told Truth Nigeria on phone in Kaduna Monday that the kidnappers have reduced the ransom from US$200,000 to US$100,000.
“They have also extended the deadline for the ransom payment from three days to seven days,” said Galadima.
“We have paid about US $10,000 dollars, and we just don’t know how to raise the balance,” he said.
“Imagine your son being killed in your presence and his younger siblings watching,” he said.
Kidnappers not far from Kaduna town
Asked if he had an idea where they are being held he said, “They are not far from Kaduna town.
“The mother said that she took just a short walk of less than an hour to appear at the Kaduna Abuja expressway after she was released.
“In fact we took the bullet-ridden body of our son just by the NYSC (National Youth Service Corps),” he said.
The NYSC camp is about 5 miles South of Kaduna state Government House. It’s an orientation camp for fresh Nigeria graduates, as they prepare for one-year mandatory service. It is no longer in use for fear of mass kidnapping.
Luka Binniyat and Mike Odeh report on politics, economy and conflict for Truth Nigeria
