Na-Kutsa: A Village By The Kidnapper’s Den

Adeola Aderounmu (A view From The Scandinavian)

There are many stories of families waiting for their loved ones across Nigeria. After a certain period of waiting, the expectations of seeing them alive again drop and the worst is assumed.

Just imagine boarding a cab along the road because the car park was devoid of regular taxi services and being abducted by criminals who transported you to a place close to Na-Kutsa village in Zaria. This was what happened to innocent people regularly in Zaria, Kaduna State. It would continue to happen until the den of kidnappers, or the villagers in Na-Kutsa are shaken. No village should harbor murderers and kidnappers, as a way of life.

I recommend that you read the sad experience of Baraka Abdulkarim as narrated to the Punch Newspaper. She was kidnapped by notorious cab operators and handed over to kidnappers. The first 2 weeks in December 2024 was a real trip to hell for Baraka and other passengers who thought they had boarded a regular cab. A woman who had 6 children on the trip saw two of her children shot to dead because they walked slowly through the forest.  

For 2 weeks, Baraka and the others defecated on their bodies. They pissed on themselves and were rarely fed as the kidnappers waited for ransoms from the victims’ families. During the period of her captivity, Baraka, according to the Punch Newspaper underwenrt her menstrual cycle bleeding all over her body and the blood drying up on her. The mess can only be imagined! 

The person or persons who deliver ransoms are usually held back, killed or re-cycled for the next ransom. In some places in Northern Nigeria, like the Na-Kutsa village in Kaduna, kidnappers are well-known, and the profession is a way of life, a means to easy wealth.

I am writing about this, not just because it happened in Kaduna, because this could have been a sad occurrence anywhere in Nigeria. But I am writing about it because the village is known, and the den of kidnappers is also probably known. It is shocking that the notorious cab driver(s) are out there waiting for their next set of victims.

The cooperation between cab drivers and the kidnappers is a very profitable evil business. It rakes in millions daily. We know about Baraka and the others kidnaped along with her because she was released after the ransom was paid. Sadly, the person who delivered her ransom was held.

We don’t know about thousands of other missing kidnapped people. Many of them are killed like goats and left to rotten in the forests. There are many stories of families waiting for their loved ones across Nigeria. After a certain waiting period, the expectations drop, and the worst is assumed.

Kidnapping is a profitable business in some parts of Nigeria. Sometimes, it can occur at some random locations if you, your friends, of family members run out of luck. It’s like a gamble sometimes if you are safe or not.

My expectation is a police investigation into the notorious hideouts of the kidnappers which is either in or around Na-kutsa village. It is not a rocket science to find the village, to find the kidnappers and to apprehend the kidnappers. In my books of investigations, this is supposed to be a very easy raid and conquests of the criminals.

Unless the authorities are accomplices, or the intelligence gathering around the Na-Kutsa village is compromised, I don’t see any reason why the cab drivers and the kidnappers should not be apprehended this January 2025.

One worrisome aspect of the Punch report was that the kidnappers have young wives who could be as young as 12 years old. I am sorry for them. I am sorry for that part of the world where children are raped in the names of early marriages. I am sad to be associated with these types of MOFOS. There is nothing in this world that will stop me from longing for freedom.

This is my view from The Scandinavian. The rest, you know!