By Mohammed Tanko
Jos
The administrative secretary of the Jama’atu Nasirl Islam, JNI, in Plateau state, Abdulaziz Yusuf, has been kidnapped.
He was abducted on Wednesday evening on his way back to Jos from Kaduna state.
According to one of the sons of the victim, Yusuf was seized alongside his driver by the kidnappers who abandoned the vehicle of the victim around Saminaka, a town in Kaduna state.
He said the incident was reported to the police in Saminaka, but the police suspected it was robbery.
“The kidnappers went away with my dad and his driver, they abandoned their vehicle, a Peugeot 406”, Sani, the son of the cleric, told PREMIUM TIMES on telephone.
“The phone of the driver was also left in the car. This morning, I called the phone number of the driver and the police from Saminaka picked it. They told me that they recovered the vehicle during patrol. Right now I am on my way to Saminaka.”
A spokesman of the Jos North local government area chapter of JNI, Murtala Sani, told PREMIUM TIMES that Yusuf was returning from a condolence visit to the family of the former Sultan of Sokoto, Ibrahim Dasuki, who died recently.
Meanwhile, the JNI said the kidnappers of Islamic cleric, have demanded a N60million ransom for his release.
The Secretary General of the organization, Abubakar Aliyu, who disclosed this, described the development as unfortunate, adding that several members of the JNI had fallen prey to kidnappers in recent times.
“The unfortunate rise of kidnappings in Nigeria is very alarming, as this is the third in the series of kidnapping that has happened to the JNI”, he said in a statement.
“The first was Sheikh Adam Abdullahi Idoko, JNI Vice President-General, South East, in September, 2015. The second was Engr. Muhammad Lawal Maidoki, Member JNI Central Publicity Committee, in September, 2016, and now Sheikh Abdul’Aziz Yusuf.”
He urged members of the organization to pray for the safe release of the captives.
