Gunmen abduct six imams in Zamfara – Police

Gunmen abducted six imams travelling to Talata Mafara in Zamfara State on Saturday, the police said.

The spokesperson of the Zamfara police command, Yazid Abubakar, said the attackers intercepted their vehicle along the Dakko–Damri feeder road in Bakura Local Government Area at about 11:30 a.m.

In a statement on Sunday, Mr Abubakar said the divisional police officer in Bakura led officers to the scene. Police personnel and other security agencies were searching for the victims, he said.

The police statement did not disclose what the clerics were travelling for. However, Sahara Reporters reported earlier that five clerics were abducted after attending prayers for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election at Abdulaziz Yari’s residence in Talata Mafara.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that Mr Yari, a former governor of Zamfara and current senator, was recently reappointed the coordinator of Mr Tinubu’s re-election campaign.

Also, Olaniyi Osoba, a lieutenant colonel and spokesperson for the Nigerian Army’s 8 Division, said the abducted people were reportedly travelling to see Mr Yari.

Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES by telephone on Sunday morning, Mr Osoba denied that any cleric was abducted at the senator’s residence.

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“Nothing happened to those ones,” he said of the clerics who gathered there for prayers.

Mr Osoba said the military had not confirmed whether the abducted people were clerics. They had not been rescued at the time of the interview, he said.

The police statement did not name the victims, and Mr Osoba said he did not have them.

Kidnapping for ransom is common in Zamfara, where several armed groups, locally called bandits, operate.