Three years after, father, mother await return of five kidnapped sons

Godfrey George tells the story of a Nasarawa family of 10 children who lost five to kidnappers in May 2020. Despite paying a ransom of N3.6m, they have not returned home

For 68-year-old Cecilia Bala, May 7 is not just another day on the calendar. It reminds her of the beginning of the endless pain that has now become her reality.

That Thursday morning, in 2020, men of the underworld whisked five of her sons away.

Although the family paid a ransom of N3.6m, the children were never freed and no one can tell if they are dead or alive.

That day began like every other day, the cock crowed, heralding daylight in Toto town, Nasarawa State, where they lived.

The Balas woke up to the bright morning without any foreboding.

The previous day, one of the family members, Sunday, a cleric with the Evangelical Church Winning All, called their now 71-year-old father, Jatou, to inform him that he would love four of his brothers to help him work on his farm at Uyah, a one-hour-30-minute drive away from home.

Sunday, now 42, combined farming with preaching, as, according to him, both are complimentary.

Although he could not go to a university, Sunday completed his secondary education and followed his dream to be a pastor.

He was barely six years in ministry when the incident happened.

His four younger brothers: Abila (26), Solomon (23), Shekwoyadu (18) and Cheto (16), prepared themselves, cleaning and sharpening their farming tools.

As they did, one of their other brothers, Yohanna (20), who had just returned from Abuja where he went to learn tailoring, decided to join them.

They took two bikes: Abila, Yohanna and Cheto on one; Shekwoyadu and Solomon on the other. Abila rode the first; Solomon, the second.

They called Sunday, on whose farm they were going to work, and he confirmed that he would be at a junction to pick them up.

They zoomed off, riding side-by-side without knowing what was ahead.

“It was not the first time they were coming to work on my farm. They knew the way to the farm and back, even without me directing them. But, I always called to be sure when they set out and when they might likely get here,” Sunday told our correspondent.

About 30 minutes into the ride, Sunday said he called Yohanna, who told him they were almost an hour away and would be with him soon.

That was the last time Sunday said he spoke to any of his brothers.

The wait

One hour turned to five, and five turned to eight, which later turned to 10. Everyone was worried.

Sunday called several times the phone lines of all his brothers, but the numbers did not connect.

Thinking it was a network glitch or that the boys might not have really set out as they claimed, he decided to call home.

It was then he knew the problem might not be as light as he thought.

The boys indeed set out on the journey, which was not supposed to last up to two hours.

Sunday said he told his father what happened, noting that he was confused why none of them reached out, but his father dismissed his fear.

After another set of hours passed and the blue sky glided to sleep, Sunday said his worry increased.

“What if they had got into an accident? What if they are in a hospital? I shouldn’t have asked them to come to my farm without going to pick them up myself,” Sunday recalled saying to himself.

At that point, he decided to call one of his two elder sisters, Jumai, and told her the situation.

He noted that the 56-year-old married woman allayed his fear, saying the boys would find their way home.

However, his eldest brother, Simon, now 51, a civil servant, advised that they should involve the police.

Sunday said a case of missing persons was reported that night to the Toto Police Station in the state.

The officers on duty, as is the law, told them to hold on for the next 24 hours before the boys would be declared missing.

As they waited with bated breath, Sunday said he regretted asking his brothers to come to the farm when he could have gone to pick them up himself.

His wife, who was with an infant, was also worried as she began to cry and pray, calling on ‘the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’ to save her husband from taking the fall.

That night, nobody slept in the Bala’s household.

Simon said he met Sunday the policement at home with their mother, who was drowning in tears.

It was the longest night they ever had, as the hand of the clock seemed to move too slowly.

By morning, they were the first to visit the station, informing the police that the brothers had not been seen, but the officers were adamant.

“Forty-eight hours, sir. You have to wait till it is complete,” the policemen reportedly told Sunday.

The family was, however, allowed to document the case, including dropping the pictures of the boys.

The policemen promised to send a signal to the state headquarters once the time was completed.

Sunday said he did not leave the station. He wanted to count the time with them. He also kept calling the phone numbers of the boys, which did not connect.

After a few hours, he returned home to bathe and change into another outfit. That was when he got a call from one of his brothers, Solomon.

He quickly picked and a strange voice answered, informing him that his brothers had been kidnapped.

He rushed out, called on his parents and Simon, and put the phone on speaker for everyone to hear the conversation.

The kidnapper said for each of the brothers, the family would pay N10m for their freedom.

Before the Balas could even talk, the abductors had disconnected the line and switched off the phone.

Sunday said he rushed back to the police station without bathing, informing the officers of the development and they promised to do their best to secure release of the five boys.

Three years on, the Balas are still waiting for the police to fulfill their promise.

“Those five boys are like quintuplets. They go everywhere together. It is really painful as a brother that after they left home that morning, they have not returned home,” Simon told Saturday PUNCH.

The bargaining

The abductors, despite several attempts by the Balas, seemed to be unreachable.

Hours morphed into days and days into weeks and months, but the kidnappers remained incommunicado.

Simon said the family began to look everywhere in search of money.

They sold two portions of their land at ridiculous amounts and decluttered their homes of property.

“I sold my motorbike. My father sold his. My brother sold his as well. We sold everything we could to raise the money, but we were sure that there was no way in the world we would raise N50m. If we had that kind of money, what would we be doing in the village in a three-room bungalow, farming to survive?” he queried.

It was on the fifth day that the daredevils reached out again, asking the Balas if they had raised the ransom.

On that day, Simon said they had not raised up to N400,000 despite all the sales, as the person who bought the land had yet to give them the money since they needed it in cash.

Simon said their father, Jatou, begged the kidnappers to accept N1m but they vehemently refused, threatening that they would kill the boys if they did not get the N50m that day.

“They needed the money in full. They didn’t even want us to bargain,” Sunday added.

But when Cecilia took the phone and begged them, somehow, they agreed to reduce the ransom to N30m.

From there, it went down to N20m, and from N20m, the abductors said they would take N10m from the family.

They ended the call after that.

The family, in tears, continued to search for more money to complete the ransom.

Simon said they borrowed N600,000, while Sunday also got about N400,000. Two of the sisters brought in their quotas and all they could raise was N3.6m.

They tried to reach the kidnappers when they saw that there was almost nothing more they could do but their phone lines were switched off.

The police, too, Simon said, told them they were tracking the kidnappers.

Three days after the last conversation, the kidnappers finally called, demanding the N10m ransom.

The Balas explained that all they could raise was N3.6m. Simon said the hoodlums never let them speak to their brothers even for once. All they wanted was money.

The criminals, however, assured them that the boys were alive.

After much pleading, the kidnappers told them to wrap the money in a carton and bring it to a community along Lokoja Road, warning them not to involve the police, or else they would not see the captured boys alive again.

According to Simon, the family sent one of their cousins, who went to drop the money.

Surprisingly, he met two young men, who told him that they were going back to their hideouts to confirm that the money was complete before the boys would be released.

The next day, the kidnappers called, saying they had confirmed the money and the boys would be released that same day, Tuesday, May 26.

They also told the family to go to a particular junction close to the highway where the brothers would be waiting for them.

The Balas said they rushed down there almost immediately. But, hours passed and night fell yet the boys were nowhere to be found.

Simon said he called the kidnappers, but their phone line rang out.

They, however, called back after a few hours, saying there was a slight delay, but they could return to the same location the next day at 4pm.

They did. But it was the same old story.

However, this time, the kidnappers called them, asking for airtime and transport. Simon said they sent the kidnappers more money and they said the victims were on the way.

The search

Simon said the family called the kidnappers multiple times, but their phone had been switched off since that day.

From that point, the wind of sorrow pitched a tent with the Balas.

Their mother developed high blood pressure. Their father, who had just survived a stroke, also developed high blood pressure.

One of the elder sisters, Jumai, began to have panic attacks, as she claimed seeing her brothers in her dreams.

“I see my brothers every day in my dreams. They are alive. I know deep down in my spirit that they are alive. They will come back. I believe they will come back,” she said, struggling to keep the tears away.

Sunday noted that he had not stopped blaming himself for their disappearance.

“I almost lost my faith but I know my God is alive. He will not let me down. My brothers will come back. My God will do it,” he said.

Simon, recounting how far they had gone with the search said they visited the army barracks in the area to report the case and they promised to comb the bushes to find the boys.

The police also promised to fish out the perpetrators without any result.

“We have gone to many spiritualists and churches. They keep telling us they are alive. They have collected money from us. A few weeks ago, one of my friends said I and Baba (Jatou) should come to Niger State to meet someone he described ‘as a strong man of God,’ but I don’t have money. We are still repaying the debts we took to pay the ransom of my boys.

“I am sick. I cannot eat well because I am always sad and thinking of my children’s return. I want to see them before I die. Their absence is eating me up slowly,” Cecilia told our correspondent in Hausa through the aid of an interpreter.

Dashed dreams

Saturday PUNCH learnt that Abila was married with two kids before his kidnap.

His wife, Apoliya, who’s from the Gadabga community in Toto LGA of the state, said she was heavy with a child before the incident.

The child is about three years old now and had yet to meet his father.

“I have not been myself since the incident. I went to the labour room alone. I suffered through the trauma. Abila and I did everything together. We even lived in his family house here in Gadabuke. We had our two kids here before his kidnap.

“He was a good man. He was always there for us. He did not have much but he made sure he provided for us. It is still like a dream that he is not here.

“I have been living here with Mama and Baba and my children. Whatever I make from farming, we manage it together. I refused to go like the other wives did because I know that my husband will come back. He is alive.

“I went to a church a few days ago, and the pastor there told me that my husband was still alive. I will keep my hope alive. Abila will come back,” she said.

Solomon was also married.

But unlike in Abila’s case, his wife had left with the two kids they had together.

Attempts to speak to her or even get the family to disclose her whereabouts proved abortive.

A family source said, “We are not happy with her. She left with our children. She couldn’t even wait for her husband.”

Solomon, our correspondent gathered, wanted to be a soldier.

He had, according to his father, tried many times to get into the army but, he didn’t succeed.

He was a ‘strong’ member of the Boys’ Brigade in their church and rose to the rank of district commander before the incident.

His brother, Simon, said Solomon was particularly ambitious and looked for every opportunity to prosper.

“I remember one time he went to Kaduna to take the military examinations. On countless occasions, he went out of his way. In fact, he was nicknamed ‘soldier’ because everyone in the village knew about his dream to be a military man. But the kidnappers did not allow his dream to come to fruition,” Simon said.

Yohanna, according to Simon, set out to become a fashion designer.

Since the family could not afford to further his education, he took fate into his hands and left for Abuja at 19 in search of a better life.

He had learnt the trade for over a year before his visit to the village to see his parents.

“If Yohanna saw the future, he wouldn’t have come back. He was not married. He had no child. He was just a young man, struggling to make a name for himself.

“He was social media savvy and always made sure he posted a lot of pictures of his craft. When he came back, he made a fine outfit for Papa. We knew he was made for something but look at us now. Where is he?” Simon asked.

Although Shekwoyadu was 18, our correspondent learnt he was married, but his wife had yet to conceive when he was abducted.

His wife also left after a few months of waiting.

“We cannot fault her. It was a very young marriage. She, too, was young. What will she be doing for us here in the village? When she said she wanted to go back to her parents, I had no objection. Did it make me sad? Yes. But, I knew that she had done nothing wrong by not waiting for her husband,” Simon said.

Efforts to reach her also proved abortive.

But a source within the family claimed that she had remarried and given birth to a child after her family refunded the bride’s price to Bala’s family.

Cheto was only 16, still in secondary school. He had yet to take the West African Senior School Certificate Examination.

Simon said he wanted to be an engineer.

Since he was the last child, the family had promised to fund his dreams by putting money together to send him to the Federal University, Lafia.

But as he rode on that bike that Thursday morning, the wind, flowing from both ends, carried his dream away.

Cheto’s disappearance really ruined Mama Cecilia.

According to her, he was the closest to her being the youngest.

“He is the one that fetches water for me. He even follows me to stay in the kitchen. Very smart boy! He read his book and I promised myself that, even if it will be my last kobo, I would contribute to sending him to school. It pains me to see that he is not here. My heart aches every night before I sleep. I miss my children and I want them back,” she said in tears.

Kidnap for ransom

Nigeria, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, had by 2021 gone miles ahead of Mexico and Colombia, which previously led in incidents of kidnapping and mass abduction.

A former member of the House of Representatives, Mr Dakuku Peterside, in a 2021 publication, categorised this nefarious activity into three broad categories – retail kidnapping, medium-scale kidnapping, and terrorist abduction.

He said, “Friends and family drive retail kidnapping for immediate financial rewards, such as a wife arranging for the kidnap of her husband; friends organising for the kidnap of other friends; and housemaids setting up the kidnap of their masters’ children.

“Medium-scale kidnapping involves attacking buses on the road and taking all the passengers, assaulting villages and taking helpless victims hostage, and attacking communities, while terrorising and occupying them. This class of kidnap-for-ransom has made the word ‘bandits’ popular as a loose term for criminals.”

The third type, terrorist abduction, Peterside noted, referred to a sophisticated organised crime and large-scale business involving multiple actors, often targeting high-value individuals, and designed to draw government’s attention.

The kidnapping statistics in Nigeria are sketchy and often do not capture the realities on the ground because most kidnap incidents go unreported and when reported, are not adequately captured by security agencies.

According to a recently published report by SBM Intelligence, titled ‘The Economics of Nigeria’s Kidnap Industry’, about N653m was paid as ransom in the country between July 2021 and June 2022.

More than 500 incidents were recorded and 3,420 people were abducted across the country, with 564 others killed in the violence associated with kidnapping in one year.

The report also detailed that N6.531bn ($9.9 m) was demanded in ransom within the period, while N653.7m ($1.2 m) was paid.

These figures do not include the humongous amounts paid as ransom (at least N100m each) by the nine victims of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack of last March.

Two weeks ago, Saturday PUNCH reported how five men from Bonny LGA, Rivers State, were kidnapped by gunmen on September 12, 2020, and have not been seen almost three years after.

Peterside added, “This cankerworm has eaten deep into our collective consciousness, forever altering our senses of security and safety. We are afraid of our shadows. Even the greatest of bonds, both familial and relational, are jeopardised by the fear of kidnapping. We do not travel freely on our motorways and train lines without a nagging thought of the possibility of being kidnapped. The economic and social implications of kidnapping and its auxiliary psychological and emotional trauma are our collective nightmare.”

This categorisation of kidnapping in Nigeria showcases the dynamism and vibrancy of the criminal enterprise across the length and breadth of Nigeria.

The visits

The Balas said when the kidnap was fresh, the then Toto Local Government Chairman invited them to his home. They spoke and he promised to get the boys back.

Simon said some men were mobilised and they went in search of the boys.

The army also, after a few months, renewed their search for the men but came back with no results.

The police, on the other hand, kept promising that they would not stop till the culprits are found.

Simon recalled, “We even went to meet vigilantes. We met hunters’ associations. We met the neighbourhood watch. They would invite us; we would go; they would make promises; and we would pay some money but there will be nothing to show for it. We have really suffered. Five vibrant young men all at once? No. It is too much.”

When Saturday PUNCH reached out to the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Nansel Rahman, on Tuesday, for an update on the case, he said he would get back to our correspondent the next day.

On Wednesday, this reporter called Rahman, who said he would check for the case file, as it had been over three years.

“We are talking of something of over three years. So, I will check through the files to see the updates. It is not that we run a digital system, so it may be a bit difficult but I will check and see what I can get and I will let you know,” he said.

He further requested the names and other details of the abducted men, which our correspondent gave to him in a text message and on WhatsApp.

He had yet to reply as of press time.

Saturday PUNCH reached out to the then Commissioner of Police, AIG Bola Longe (retd.), who referred this reporter back to Rahman.

He said, “I am not the commissioner in charge of Nasarawa. I left in 2021. I am currently a lawyer, and I am in my office. I have no case file here as I handed everything over (when was learning) so I cannot speak on the matter.”

Meanwhile, a UK-based psychologist and trauma expert, Mrs Celine Maduka, said the Balas might need to seek therapy to help them with the trauma.

“It is always hard to accept the loss of a loved one. It is best for the family to, at this time, begin to take their minds off the return of these young men. It is a difficult decision, but it is one that they ought to take.

“They may need an expert to help them because we are talking of five vibrant men. But, at this point, with the amount of time that has gone by, withdrawal of hope is best for them,” she said.

She also stressed that the police and government would do well to visit the family and condole with them and compensate them if need be.

A security expert, Mr Yemi Adeyemi, on his part, advised the family to move on with their lives.

He also urged the police to comb the bushes to get signs of the boys.

“I wish this had come up months after this kidnap. It would have been much easier to get these boys or signs of them. Three years is such a long time for a kidnapper to keep five young men.

“The problem with cases like this is that, in most cases, these wicked men would have done their worst with the boys but still collect a ransom. There is a lot that needs to be done in information gathering as well. Shendam-Lafia Road and Nasarawa-Abuja Road have always been a hotspot.