Residents of Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State have alleged that they were directed not to speak publicly about a recent kidnapping in their community.
Journalist Reuben Buhari made the disclosure on Wednesday while speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Brief.
He said efforts to get firsthand accounts from community members were frustrated because they claimed they had been instructed to remain silent.
DAILY POST reported that the identities of the 177 persons kidnapped from ECWA Church and Cherubim and Seraphim Churches 1 and 2 at Kurmin Wali community in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Sunday have been revealed.
The raid came barely a week after the same community paid N2.6 million ransom to secure the release of 20 residents previously abducted.
According to Buhari, the residents said the Kajuru Local Government Chairman, Dauda Madaki, asked them not to speak to anyone or disclose details of the incident, assuring them that efforts were underway to secure the release of the abducted persons.
He added that the directive from the council chairman was the main reason community members were unwilling to discuss the kidnapping or provide information on what was happening in the area.
He said: “We spoke to people in the community. It was really difficult for them. It was very difficult for them (community members) to speak because they said the Kajuru Local Government chairman, Dauda Madaki, asked them not to talk to anyone and to keep the news within themselves. That they will try as much as quickly bring back these people. Typically that was the reason, they were acting on the order of the chairman not to talk to anybody, not to divulge what is happening in that community.”
Residents were warned not to talk about 177 Kaduna kidnapping incident – Buhari
