EXCLUSIVE: Notorious bandit helping Zamfara Speaker to secure release of kidnapped father, others

A notorious bandit in Zamfara State, Halilu Kachalla, is helping the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Nasiru Magarya, in the negotiation for the release of his father kidnapped 11 days ago.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the elder Mr Magarya was kidnapped alongside his wife and five others in Magarya village on August 4.

The other kidnapped victims include the speaker’s step mother, two uncles and three other relatives during the attack.

Ransom negotiation

A top aide of the speaker, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak with journalists on the development, said the bandits reached out for ransom a day after the abductions.

According to the source, a former commissioner, who is also from Zurmi local government, has been leading the negotiation with the bandits. He said other government officials and friends of the speaker are also involved.

“It was a deliberate plan to extort money from the speaker,” said the source, who said he has been involved in the negotiation from the beginning. “Though they didn’t speak with the speaker directly, they started the negotiation by asking for N500 million. But we don’t have such amount, so our people continued discussing with them (the bandits).”

According to the source, people from the speaker’s camp had been begging the bandits to reduce the ransom which he said they initially did to N200 million.

“But we still told them the money is too much. They kept saying we should bring the money because they don’t like harming older people.”

Asked if the state government was involved in the discussion, the source said he had no knowledge of that. But he added that some top aides of the governor were discussing with the people from the speaker’s camp “to ensure safe return of the abductees.”

Another source, who is the speaker’s business associate in Katsina State, said the ransom was again slashed to N100 million after a series of negotiations.

“They (bandits) told us that since it was not only one group that undertook the operation, they needed much money to settle everyone. They are now asking for N100 million from us but it is still too much.”

Asked if they know how many groups were involved, he said the speaker’s people in Zurmi Local Government Area said there are more than six groups.

He added that the bandits are now asking for N5 million for each of the groups involved.

Kachalla’s involvement

The speaker’s aide told PREMIUM TIMES that the banditry kingpin, Mr Kachalla, was invited into the negotiation by a local government official in Shinkafi.

He said the speaker’s followers in Zurmi and Shinkafi local government areas had reached out to Mr Kachalla immediately after the abduction.

“They first suspected Halilu because the abduction took place in his territory. But when he told them he had no hands in the kidnapping, the suspicion turned to Turji who controls Zurmi and some areas in Katsina.”

He, however, said he was not certain whether Mr Turji was involved in the kidnapping. But he confirmed that Mr Kachalla, who once accepted the governor’s amnesty, had been reaching out to the kidnappers.

He said: “So far, Halilu has been playing an active role but some of us from the speaker’s camp don’t like the initiative because it will expose the speaker to many things. The local government official from Shinkafi is playing a role and we appreciate that but we are being careful.”

Mr Kachalla holds sway as a leader of bandits in Shinkafi (Zamfara) and Sabon Birni (Sokoto) and other communities in Zurmi where the speaker’s father was abducted.