Although paying ransoms may be illegal in Nigeria, it is the only way families can secure the release of their relatives kidnapped by gangs terrorizing parts of the country’s north, a hostage negotiator told the BBC.
Sulaiman – whose name has been changed to protect his identity – is from Kaduna state, where 280 children were recently abducted from a school in Kuriga town.
He has been working informally in this controversial and risky profession for several years, since some of his relatives were taken hostage.
“We have to negotiate. Force cannot be used to recover hostages. “It would endanger the lives of our loved ones,” he explains to the BBC.
Sulaiman first became involved in negotiations with kidnappers, known locally as bandits, in 2021, a year before paying ransoms became illegal in Nigeria.
In the last three years, he says, he has negotiated the release of more than 200 hostages, a small fraction of the thousands of people kidnapped in the last decade.
Negotiations require patience and courage.
“The government thinks I have been helping the bandits,” he says, and “the bandits think I have been receiving money from the government, so I am also a target for kidnapping.”
His first negotiation took place when he was trying to raise around US$12,500 to rescue two of his relatives who had been kidnapped.
“I didn’t know what I was doing. He only talked to the bandits and begged them,” she says.
However, their patient treatment It worked with the gang members and in the end his relatives were freed, although he had to sell his farm in his hometown to cover the ransom.
Poverty and youth unemployment
As word spread about the successful release, other families who were kidnapped victims turned to him for support. Soon his phone began to be constantly busy.
“Almost all the people in my town have had a family member kidnapped.“He says, adding that he helps them for free.
And despite the ban on ransom payments, people still come to him desperately for help.
Sulaiman admits that for him it is a terrifying situation: “The government does not like to negotiate with bandits and can send people to jail for doing so.”
He attributes his success to his appreciation of the root causes of Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis, which he believes is fueled primarily by poverty and high levels of youth unemployment.
The competition for land and resources between herders and farmers has also contributed to the problem. The kidnappers tend to be former herdsmen from the Fulani ethnic group, who attack villages where mainly Hausa farmers reside.
“When I talk to the bandits, I understand those people,” he says, adding that negotiations tend to take place in Hausa, the lingua franca of the largely Muslim north, although the native language of most kidnappers is Fulfulde, spoken by the fulani.
“I tell them that I know they are living a difficult life in the bush, without electricity. “I know they feel like the government has forgotten them.”
Gangs are usually made up of gunmen on motorcycles who attack specific areas and families based on word of mouth. paid informants. Is a huge and sophisticated operation to make money.
About 30,000 bandits from more than 100 gangs They operate in northwest Nigeria, according to the Center for Democracy and Development, a think tank based in the capital, Abuja.
Arduous and extensive process
Sulaimán points out that the success of his negotiations depends on the leader of the kidnappers: “Some bandits I have dealt with still hold hostages and want more money, even after having paid the ransom.”
“But some of them release the hostages as soon as they are paid.”
The process of freeing a hostage can be arduous and take up to 50 days and between 20 and 30 phone calls.
“You have to use delicate language. They can be rude and will insult you, but you have to stay calm,” she says.
Despite banknote shortage in Nigeria, kidnappers demand ransoms be paid in cashsince bank transfers can be easily tracked.
Payments are usually made by one of the parents or a relative of one of the kidnapped people, explains Sulaiman.
“The bandit will call them and give them step-by-step instructions on how to find them in the bush. Once they get there, the bandit will count the money, bill by bill.”
Sometimes bandits demand motorcycles as part of the ransom payment, in addition to alcohol and cigarettes.
When another close contact of Sulaiman was kidnapped from a university along with other students, before ransom payments became illegal, he says the government paid around US$2,370 for the freedom of each student, although there has never been any official confirmation of it.
“The government will never officially admit that it paid [incluso entonces] because for them that would be admitting failure. But as experts on the subject we know what happened and we did not have that amount of money,” he says.
Sulaiman became involved in those negotiations and says that the kidnappers had first demanded around US$32,000 for each hostage and finally managed to negotiate.
Dialogue
Nowadays, when villagers have to foot the bill, few people can afford to raise money for ransoms. They often resort to crowdfunding to get money, although this too is now proving difficult as insecurity has devastated the economy.
Bandits have been known to kill hostages or release them when there is no hope of payment.
Sulaiman believes the recent spate of mass school kidnappings and the threat to kill students may be a ploy to get authorities to take notice: “They think the government will pay.”
There are reports that authorities have continued to pay ransoms on occasion, although this is always denied.
And President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has gone out of his way to say that “not a single cent” will be paid for the recently kidnapped Kuriga children, ordering security forces to ensure their release.
Between July 2022 and June 2023, armed gangs demanded more than $6 million in ransom payments, according to a report by SBM Intelligence, a security risk consulting firm.
The ransom negotiator agrees with the authorities that continuing to pay will only boost the kidnapping business: “Ransom payments encourage kidnappings. “Bandits are only looking for money.”
But he is sure that heavy-handed military force is not the answer: “If I can advise the government, it should meet with these people and dialogue with them”.
Until then, Sulaiman fears that the next time his phone rings it will be another kidnapping case.
Determined to continue helping his community, he will surely answer the call.
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