The former secretary-general of the football federation of Nigeria, Ahmed Sani Toro, who was abducted on June 18, has been set free by kidnappers.
Along with him, two other men, former Nigeria under-23 assistant coach Garba Ila and Isa Jah, were also released.
On Saturday, all three men were abducted while driving back from the capital Abuja to Bauchi after attending the wedding of the son of the ex-president of the football association.
The kidnappers have been talking to one of Toro’s children and were making some ransom demands which might be very tough for them to give them.
As per the reports, it was further reported that the kidnapper had lessened their ransom amount on June 20, still, it is not clear whether the ransom was paid to the kidnappers or not.
Abductions for ransom have become very usual around Nigeria. As per the data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, armed gangs have killed over 2600 civilians in 2021.
In May 2022, Nigeria’s Senate authorised a bill implementing jail terms of around 15 years for anyone who will pay ransom to a kidnapper to release someone who has been kidnapped. The bill also involved kidnapping a person as punishable by death in those cases where victims are killed or die.
The proposed bill to punish the ones paying ransom has caused a rage among citizens in the country.
Toro was the secretary-general of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for over six years from 1993. It was at the helm when Nigeria was qualified for its first World Cup finals in 1994.
