Gunmen abduct eight Nigerian returnees who were refugees in Chad

Eight former refugees who returned home recently from Chad Republic have been abducted in Doron Baga, a community in the Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State.

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Local sources said the returnees were abducted by Boko Haram insurgents on Tuesday while fishing on the outskirts of their community.

The insurgents targeted 10 people, but two escaped. One of them, a boat driver, was hidden by merchants, while the other hid in the river, residents said. The two are receiving treatment locally in the community.

“Eight of our people have been abducted by Boko Haram. They went fishing not far from our community, but unfortunately met Boko Haram patrolling the area,” a resident of the community, who did not want to be named for safety reasons, said.

He said the abductors have reached out to the kidnapped persons’ families and demanded N300,000 as ransom for the release of each person.

“Imagine people went out to look for two to three thousand naira to buy grains for their families, and their abductors are asking for N300,000 each for their release,” the source exclaimed.

Security agencies have yet to speak about the incident. Efforts by PREMIUM TIMES to speak with the police and the military were not successful as their spokespersons did not respond to calls to their phones.

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Also, Abba Fugu, the chairperson of Kukawa Local Government Area, did not pick up this reporter’s calls to his phone or reply to a text message.

This is not the first time insurgents have abducted fishermen in the area. Late last year, over a dozen fishermen were abducted in the same Kukawa Local Government Area.

The latest attack comes a few months after Nigerian refugees repatriated from Chad were resettled in their ancestral homes in Borno after being away for about ten years fleeing the Boko Haram insurgency.

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PREMIUM TIMES reports that the Nigerian government and the Borno State Government had assured the refugees that it was safe to return to their homes in Borno.

However, the Boko Haram insurgency is far from over and appears to be witnessing a resurgence.

Governor Babagana Umara Zulum on Monday alerted the federal government to the resurgence of attacks by the insurgents in Borno State and beyond.