The daughters of the officials have spent over four months in captivity.
The terrorists holding two daughters and one domestic staff of the immediate former Accountant General of Zamfara State, Abubakar Bala – Furfuri have threatened turn them into criminals, who will be used to attract other targets of their criminal activities if their parent fails to pay the ransom they demanded.
The terrorists’ message was contained in a 2:39 minutes video released Monday morning.
The children, Zulaihat and Zainab and an unnamed domestic staff, have spent 128 days in captivity. They were abducted in June.
In the video clip, the three ladies were seen clutching anti aircraft guns, AK 47, LMG and other firearms.
The video started with one of the terrorists on the background telling the girls because their parents “think the issue is a joke or lie.”
He then said “we are not even after the money. We’ll just use you and increase our number of fighters or use you as new targets.”
Another one interrupted and said, “tell them if they don’t cooperate, we will keep disgracing you.”
In the video, one of the daughters, Zulaihat, was pleading with her father to use every means to gather the ransom and free them from captivity.
“My name is Zulaihat from Zamfara,” she began in an emotional voice. “Please father, if you see this video help and save us from this situation. We’re in a critical condition living here. Disregard those advising you against paying the ransom please. Please don’t allow us to add another day in this condition.
“They threatened to give us something that will make us forget you and you may never see us. Please, save us from this condition. They said they would take us away from here. They said we would show them the houses of rich people and we’ll go to schools with them (to abduct pupils). Please help and save us from this situation,” she said.
At that point, another terrorist said, “tell him (the father) that he shouldn’t cooperate if he wants you to continue in this situation.”
Mr Furfuri, the ex accountant general, did not respond to calls and SMS sent to him for comments, but a family source said the family has seen the video.
“He has given millions of naira to the bandits after which they released some of the captives, including one of his daughters and other relatives that were abducted with Zulaihat and Zainab. He doesn’t have the money they’re asking for now,” the source, who asked not to be named for safety reasons said.
He, however, did not tell PREMIUM TIMES the amount the terrorists are demanding as ransom.