Bandits have abducted the brother-in-law of the ex-governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari. He was abducted at the Talata Mafara area of the state.
Yari is the immediate past governor of Zamfara State. At the tail end of his administration, he resigned as the state’s chief security officer while still being the governor.
Yari’s brother-in-law, Auwal Hussain, was taken captive in an attack that is described as the first in the headquarters of Talata Mafara Local Government.
Hussain’s sister is Yari’s first wife. His neighbour Surajo was also abducted in the incident.
“We heard when the bandits came in the night. They came on motorcycles and shot in the air to scare people. It was in the night around 11:30 pm,” one of the neighbours Mustapha Lawal said.
“The fact that bandits could come into this area considered to be the safest in Talata Mafara, which is also the second-largest town in the state, is scary. They operated for over an hour without security personnel coming to challenge them.”
A source close to Hussain who craved anonymity said the abductors had information that Hussain had just returned from Dubai.
It is not clear if the bandits abducted him because he just came back from Dubai, or because he is the brother-in-law of Yari.