Nigerian traditional ruler and children 'abducted'

Nigerian traditional ruler and children 'abducted'

Nigeria's security forces have launched an operation to rescue a traditional ruler and two children who were abducted by unknown gunmen at a village in north-eastern Bauchi state in the early hours of Sunday.
The search for 49-year-old Alhaji Adamu Yakubu, as well as a 12-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl, is focusing on a forest near Tama village.
Mr Yakubu, the district head of Tama, was abducted from his home, and the children from a different home.
The traditional ruler's younger brother, Abubakar Yakubu, told me that he was in the house when the abductors arrived.
They went room to room to search for Alhaji Adamu Yakubu who eventually came out of a room he was hiding in and handed himself over, his brother said.
According to witnesses, there were around ten kidnappers and they looked young.
The motive for the abductions is unclear, but it appears that they intend to extort money as they left behind a telephone number, witnesses said.
A police spokesman in Bauchi told me that frantic efforts are being made to arrest the group and rescue the three.
Villagers say dozens of people have been abducted in recent weeks.
Kidnappings for ransom in villages near forests in Bauchi state seems to have been increasing in recent months.
Security analysts say this may be because the military onslaught on militant Islamist group Boko Haram in the far north-eastern states of Borno and Yobe has led to its fighters taking refuge.
Armed robbers and cattle rustlers in the north-west may have also fled to the forests in Bauchi state after the security forces launched an operation against them.