Atiku expresses worry over abductions of 12 police officers

Nigeria’s former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has expressed worry over the unfortunate kidnapping of 12 Assistant-Superintendents of Police (ASPs) on their way to Zamfara from Borno.

Atiku in a series of tweets on Wednesday said he was concerned that a dozen police officers charged with the protection of lives and properties were themselves victims of kidnapping.

He said no resources should be spared to free them. “I am concerned like many men and women of goodwill that a dozen police officers, who are charged with the protection of our lives and properties, are themselves victims of kidnapping.

“No resource should be spared to free them,” he tweeted.

The BBC Hausa Services had reported that the senior ASP officers were abducted by gunmen in a village between Katsina and Zamfara states 10 days ago, but reports of their abduction have now surfaced.

The family of the police told the BBC they were on their way from Borno State to conduct a special operation in Zamfara State when they were ambushed by gunmen and arrested.

The wife of one of the police officers said she had not heard from her husband for three days until she went to the Borno State police barracks to learn that their husbands had been abducted, and later said two had escaped from the hands of the gunmen and they phoned the headquarters that the rest had been taken away.

She added that she later got a phone call from her husband but only briefly, explaining to her the situation in the hands of their captors.