Landlords flee houses, properties as kidnappers take over Kaduna

Hundreds of landlords on the outskirt of Kaduna and its environs have deserted their homes for fear of being kidnapped by bandits.

Refinery staff, Central Bank of Nigeria staff and other notable companies’ staff in Kaduna, including businessmen and women who spent millions of Naira to build mansions along the Kakau, Federal Housing, Goni Gora new layout in Kaduna have packed out of their homes to locations where safety is better secured.

Findings revealed that some homeowners abandoned their buildings to rent two-room apartments in town for safety reasons while others allegedly sold their houses and vacated the area Daily Post reports.

Reports indicate that most kidnapping incidents in Kaduna city and its environs happen mostly at night when residents return home from work, as a result, most people who would not want to abandon their homes completely, rent rooms in town where they sleep with their families and return home by day to their routine.

Dr. Moses Atugan a resident of the troubled area, who retired from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Kaduna, said ” I put all my energy, resources to build a befitting residence after my retirement from the oil company. Now, Kidnappers have created fear in me. I have to rent a two-room apartment, somewhere within the town where my family and I sleep.”

Engineer Moses Adole who wept over the kidnap of his only son said, “my only son was Kidnapped three months ago. I paid a huge amount of money before he was released. They came in the night looking for me. But I wasn’t in the house. So they took my son away. Since then, I decided to move to Barnawa where I rented a room.”

“They have come several times looking for me, but as luck may have it, on such occasions, I may have travelled out of the state. So, the last time they came, they couldn’t find me, but took my only son away.”

Kidnapping according to residents has become a business venture in Kaduna as families of victims are made to cough out huge amounts of money for ransom before their relatives are released.