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Gunmen, suspected
to be kidnappers, who, last Wednesday abducted Rufai AbdulMalik Atta,
nephew of the former Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Atta, are
asking the family for a ransom of N50 million before they release the
hostage.

Mr Atta, who
retired as Deputy General Manager with the defunct Bank of the North,
had just returned from his Okene home when he was apprehended in front
of his friend’s residence at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Family sources said that the former banker had arrived at his friend’s
house for an appointment when, on arrival, he was confronted by gunmen
who swooped on him and bundled him and a guard who had come to open the
gate, into a waiting car and sped off.

The sources added
that Mr Atta pleaded with the kidnappers to release the guard on the
grounds that he is ‘innocent’, and should be let go, to which the
gunmen obliged.

NEXT learnt that
the kidnappers opened a line of discussion with Mr Atta’s wife late
Thursday night and demanded N50 million ransom as condition to setting
her husband free.

The woman was said
to have pleaded with them for leniency and, by the weekend, the
abductors sliced it to N35 million, asking the embattled woman to get
across to them on a ‘dedicated account number’, the sum of N1 million
as the cost of taking care of her husband pending the full payment of
the ransom.

The Ebira ethnic
community in Kano, where Mr Atta is known for community participation,
also organized a special prayer for God’s intervention in the matter.

Hoping for early release

A family source
said Mrs Atta left Kano for Abuja yesterday morning after “a deposit of
half a million naira was paid by the family to the ‘dedicated
account’.” “One of the kidnappers called back to acknowledge receipt of
the funds but warned of dire consequence if the family fails to
expedite action on the ‘real deal’,” the source said. “He may regain
his freedom soon, as we have a reached a compromise with the
abductors.”

The police in Kano,
however, said they have not received any complaint over the incident.
The state police boss, Baba Muhammad, said the case might have been
reported where the incident occurred.

Efforts to get the reaction of the former Inspector General of
Police, Ali Atta, proved abortive, as several calls to his phone went
unanswered.