One of the sons of the slain district head of Gobir in Sabon Birni Local Government Area, Hon. Shuaibu Gwanda Gobir, has blamed Sokoto government for refusing to pay up ransom demanded by his father’s captors.
The marauders, who three weeks ago, waylaid and took away the district head, late Alhaji Isa Muhammad Bawa, along with one his sons, had asked for N60 million, out which they requested five motorcycles should be bought for them.
But he was killed on Tuesday, August, 20, at about 4pm after being tortured and compelled to beg for his life in a video released by the bandits a day before.
According to one Hon. Gobir, an erstwhile legislator, who spoke to the Hausa Service of Deutsche Welle radio, the family had, after their father’s plea video went viral, decided “to rally around among ourselves to pay the ransom demanded by the bandits.
“But we were told that the state government had agreed to pay up. That was on Monday.
“Yesterday (Monday), I was told that the money has been released. So, we told them (the government) that since they were in contact with the bandits, they should go and deliver the ransom.
“There was a delay,” he narrated, pointing out that at night on the same day, somebody called him from Shinkafi (Zamfara state), about 165 kilometers from Sokoto, “and asked me whether the ransom money has been delivered.”
“I told him no, it was still with the government. But, we have hope that it would be taken to the bandits.
“He then told me that if it has not been conveyed as we spoke, we should forget about it.
“He said that there was a problem. I asked the nature of the problem and he told me he would call back. After Zuhr prayer, the next day, I saw his missed call and I called him back. It was then he told me our dad has been killed.
Hon. Gobir submitted that “whatever happened, the deed has been done, but disclosed that the family still have more to reveal about the dastardly saga.
“We have some information to divulge. It is not everything that will be revealed via the media. The bandits spoke with one of my brothers. We have all the conversations we had with them on record. God willing, at the appropriate time, you will hear it from the horse’s mouth.
“For now, what was done to us was humiliation of the highest order. We were unjustly treated and disgraced. What happened to us was unacceptable and infra dig not only to us but to any discerning person.
“Before now, people have been expressing their displeasure over the spate of insecurity that has bedeviled us. But we hand over everything to God. He is the best Judge and we shall all meet him at the appointed time. Any person who treats another unjustly, God shall punish him,” he concluded.