A wife of a kidnapper has freed a six-year-old girl abducted by a gang led by her husband in Bundugu Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

The girl, identified simply as Ummi, was kidnapped by bandits alongside 74 other people earlier this year from Yar Katsina community in Kekun Wake district of Bundugu LGA.

The bandits were reported to have released other 74 victims after the payment of N4 million ransom but one of them adopted little Ummi because he has no child.

Recently, Ummi’s adopted father was reportedly killed in a gun battle with vigilantes.

It was gathered that the slain bandit’s wife asked Ummi to find her way back home since her custodian had been killed.

“She released her and the girl spent days wandering inside the forest before she eventually navigated her way to one herder’s settlement in the forest.

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“From there, the herder took her to the district head of Magami where she was later reunited with her parents in the Yar Katsina community,” a resident Sadiq Yar Katsina narrated.

The girl was said to have disclosed that the bandit’s wife revealed that she had asked her husband to return the girl to her parents but he refused.

“Since your custodian has been killed you can now go back home. He held you against my wish. I had earlier advised him to take you back to your parents because as a woman I know what it feels like to take away a little daughter from her mother.

“I can’t personally go to your village and hand you over to your mother because I can be targeted by the vigilantes, nevertheless when you reach home greet your mother for me and tell her that I hold no grudge against her,” the bandit’s wife was quoted to have told the girl.

The Zamfara State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Muhammad Shehu, could not be reached for comment on the development as of the time of filing this report.

The Star