The gunmen who kidnapped a lady, Hannah Opeyemi, after an attack on a lawyer, Sanni Boladale in Soyoye, Abeokuta, Ogun State, have reached out to her family, demanding a ransom of N3m.

Our correspondent gathered that the female victim was visually impaired.

The kidnappers had on Friday attacked the lawyer while he was entering his premises and attempted to abduct him.

He, however, escaped, as the hoodlums whisked away Opeyemi, who was in the car during the attack.

Speaking from his hideout on Tuesday, Boladale revealed that the kidnappers had demanded N10m before the release of the lady.

He said after some negotiation, the kidnappers reduced it to N3m and insisted that without the money, the lady would not be released.

He explained that the victim’s family pleaded with the kidnappers to consider N500,000, but they insisted on N3m.

Boladale said the victim joined him in his car to pass the night in his house on Thursday so he could take her to the University College Hospital, Ibadan, the following morning for the treatment of her eyes.

He said, “She is actually the daughter of a friend. She needed assistance from me as she is visually impaired. I was to take her to UCH in Ibadan the following day.

“She was to sleep over and leave early the next day because UCH is always a busy place to get a card and see a doctor. That was why we had that arrangement.

“It happened at the gate to my house. I was opening the gate when they pounced on us, so I had to meander my way in and close the gate behind me.

“After I escaped, they fired bullets into the house and made away with the lady in the car as she is visually impaired and unhealthy.”

The lawyer appealed to the government to come to the aid of the victim, adding that she had been in the kidnappers’ den for too long considering her health condition.

“They are asking for N3m. When we told them to collect N500,000, they became angry and started cursing me,” he added.

In a related development, bandits have demanded N40m for 20 children they abducted at Kusherki in the Rafi LGA of Niger State.

The children, who are said to have been in captivity for over 20 days, are between ages four and 10.

A resident of the community, Auwal Usman, in a telephone interview on Tuesday, said the children were faced with untold hardship in the hands of their abductors.

Usman further stated that the abducted children were four males and 16 females.

The state Commissioner of Internal Security and Humanitarian Affairs, Mr Emmanuel Umar, said the state government was doing everything possible to ensure that the children were released unhurt.

“The state government is doing everything within its powers to ensure that these children are united with their families safe.

“The security agencies are also doing their best and we are sure that we will be victorious in the end,” he added. (The PUNCH)

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