“My wife killed in front of me”: Kukah’s brother, more from the chains narrated in the kidnappers of Rapioni

Ishaya Kukah, brother of the Catholic bishop of the diocese of Sokoto, Rev. P. Matthew Kukah, told his heartbreaking experience in the hands of bandits who kidnapped him and others.

Kukah spoke with journalists when the national security councilor (NSA), Nhu Ribadu, and the Minister of Defense, Badaru Abubakar, delivered 60 victims saved to their families in Abuja on Tuesday 8 April 2025.

The brother of the cleric said he had given up the hope of surviving before his rescue with others from the troops of the Nigerian army of 1 division to Kaduna.

He said: “Frankly, I had already given up. I didn’t think I would come out alive because of how they were treating us in the bush.

“We suffered too much. We usually chair us in two. If you wanted to defecate or urinate, you had to move together.”

Kukah said that the victims were pushed to agree on redemption requests due to the torture they have endured.

Kukah added: “If they have noticed that you are reluctant, they will beat you or even kill you.

“If not for the federal government, we would still be in the bush. Thanks for what you have done. God bless you.”

Another saved victim, Adesanya Michael, deputy director of the National Assembly Commission, who was kidnapped by his residence in the Kubwa area in Abuja, asked for a non -simbative approach to face the bandits in Nigeria.

Michael said that the bandits, mostly aged 17 and 21, were of course illiterate and victims of circumstances.

He said: “I was chained for 32 days. Most of them can’t even count up to a million. They don’t know what they are doing.

“Instead of killing them, the government should stop, educate and rehabilitate them. Some of them want to learn the operations. They can still be useful.”

Michael, who was kidnapped on January 26 and released on April 7, told how his wife was killed in his presence.

He said: “When they kill someone in front of you, you will give them everything they want.

“My wife killed in front of me. At that moment, if they had asked for my head, I would have given it.”