The kidnappers of an American citizen, Philip Nathan, who was abducted from his farmhouse at Nasalata village in Niger Republic on October 21, have revealed how American soldiers swooped on them in a helicopter to rescue their victim in the dead of the night.

The suspects, Aliyu Umar, 23, and Ali Abdulahi, 21, said that they had taken their hostage to a thick forest in Sokoto State, where they kept him for one week and provided 24-hour security to ensure he does not escape when from nowhere an helicopter hovered around where he was kept with white soldiers jumping down and killing all their gang members before taking their victim away without stress.

Aliyu told Sunday Sun in an interview that the whole operation did not last more than five minutes.

He said that he and his colleague Ali Abdulahi escaped being killed by the invading soldiers because they were off duty on the night that the American Seal carried out the operation.

He said that he watched the whole drama from a distance in a house they had taken refuge not too far from the spot they kept their hostage when the helicopter arrived in the area, hovered for sometime before the soldiers jumped out.

The suspect, however, said that he cannot remember the exact time of the night as he and his colleagues were too afraid to go out.

He also said that they did not hear the sound of any gunshot during the operation, but that it was only when they got there in the morning that they met the dead bodies of all their colleagues.

The suspects who are in police custody narrated how they kidnapped the American while he was relaxing in his farmhouse.

According to him, they went in about 12 motorcycles and worked with two other kidnap gangs, making them a total of over 20, that went for the operation.

On getting to the farm, he said that they met the victim who was in his house relaxing on the fateful day and surrounded him.

On sighting them, he said that the American offered to give them 20,000 Cefas, but they rejected the offer and took him away because they wanted their money in dollars.

After rounding him up, he said that they put him in one of the motorcycles with three other people to ensure he does not act funny and rode to the forest in Sokoto, where they have their hideout.

Sunday Sun brings you this interview from the suspect who was paraded by the police in Abuja:

“My name is Aliyu Umar, (aka Kwatte). I am 23 years old and a native of Kalmalu village in Illela Local Government Area of Sokoto State. I belong to a nine-man kidnap gang and I have been in the kidnapping business for sometime now and I have participated in several kidnappings both in Nigeria and Niger Republic. Some members of my gang are from Nigeria, some from Niger and some from Arab countries. I have made plenty of money in the kidnap business, but I cannot stop because there is plenty of money there.

“When we planned to kidnap the American, we decided to hire the services of our other colleagues from another group because we suspect that he may be having some people guarding him. We planned everything very well and rounded him up at his farmhouse. We went in about 12 motorcycles with over 20 of us. When we got there, we found him relaxing in one of his rooms and when he saw us he started pleading with us not to take him away, but we refused. He even offered us 20,000 Cefas, but we rejected the money because that was too small compared to what we were expecting to get from the American government when we kidnap him.

“So, we took him away in one of the motorcycles, two people sat behind him and the driver so that he will not escape because Americans are very smart people. When we took him, we drove for about five hours until we got to the place where we usually keep our hostages. We kept him with us for one good week and my boss made contact with his people who agreed to pay the amount we were asking for. We took good care of him because we needed the money. We carried out shift duties to ensure he does not escape. We took turns in this aspect. But something happened on the night that I was off duty and the whole thing was like a dream because we watched it from a house we live that is not very far from our hostage area.

That day in the midnight, I just saw helicopter flying around the area and then after sometime, it started going round and before I knew what was happening, soldiers started jumping out from the helicopter and the soldiers were while men and after sometime, they climbed back into the helicopter and flew away. This whole thing did not last more than five minutes and we did not hear any sound of gunshot. When we saw the soldiers, we were afraid that they were going to kill us so we hid ourselves until in the morning when we did not hear any footstep; we went to see if our colleagues were okay. But on getting there, we found them all dead and when we examined their bodies they were shot and we did not even hear the sound of gunshot. We also did not see our victim again that was when we knew that the white soldiers had taken him and we were afraid and ran away.

“On how he was arrested, he said he was arrested after the police used the telephone number with which they used to negotiate for the ransom for the American to track him.”

unlike my nigeria. where only the victims will be saved after paying certain amount

Well....

Shedrack777:
unlike my nigeria. where only the victims will be saved after paying certain amount

Nigeria defence budget 2019 : $1.6billion

usa defence budget 2021: $706 billion.

Basically, the US forces have access to resources that the Nigerian defence forces can only dream of.

Not to defend Buhari.....just to show you why our Army cannot perform like the US.

That's how it's done, fly in eliminate any rag tag kidnappers in sight and fly out with hostage....

This is how to deal with terrorists and not how these terrorists lovers defend the atrocities of their foot soldiers

This could only be achieved when you don't have soft spot for terrorists, bandits, killer herdsmen or kidnappers..

Subsidybad21:


Nigeria defence budget 2019 : $1.6billion

usa defence budget 2021: $706 billion.

Basically, the US forces have access to resources that the Nigerian defence forces can only dream of.

Not to defend Buhari.....just to show you why our Army cannot perform like the US.

Rubbish comparison. Show us what you have done with the$1.6 billion.
Americans spend on research and development, maintaining various nuclear warheads, missiles,drones, many aircraft carriers etc. Many sophisticated bombers and fighters.

wingmanIII:


Rubbish comparison. Show us what you have done with the$1.6 billion.
Americans spend on research and development, maintaining various nuclear warheads, missiles,drones, many aircraft carriers etc. Many sophisticated bombers and fighters.

So, we can buy all those sophisticated stuff with just 1.6 BILLION dollars?

A nuclear warhead costs 96billion US dollars alone, for example.

An aircraft carrier costs 12.98 billion US dollars alone. A new one, we haven't talked about maintenace costs

Nigeria does not have the money to comepte with the US at the US level

Stop expecting $700 BILLION perfomance from just 1.6 billion. Stop trying to buy a ferrari with just 5000 naira which is what you are trying to do.

Subsidybad21:


So, we can buy all those sophisticated stuff with just 1.6 BILLION dollars?

A nuclear warhead costs 96billion US dollars alone, for example.

An aircraft carrier costs 12.98 billion US dollars alone. A new one, we haven't talked about maintenace costs

Nigeria does not have the money to comepte with the US at the US level

Stop expecting $700 BILLION perfomance from just 1.6 billion. Stop trying to buy a ferrari with just 5000 naira which is what you are trying to do.

Tell us with evidence what you have done with $1.6 billion.

wingmanIII:


Tell us with evidence what you have done with $1.6 billion.

You have no answer to my point, which is why you are asking such a funny question.

But to answer your querstion, 1.6 billion bought what it can buy..which was not enough, and yes corruptionm messed things up.

But even then, corruption or no corruption, expecting us to reach the level of the US with 1.6 BILLION dollars...shows you have some really funky thinking processes going on there.

So, please don't make me laugh by your assumption we can reach US level with less than one tenth of what the US spends.

Before you start...I am no APC fan. That we have 1.6 billion to spend on defencve shows we need to vote a party next time that would raise our national income to a level where we can afford to beat the US at their game.

Subsidybad21:


You have no answer to my point, which is why you are asking such a funny question.

But to answer your querstion, 1.6 billion bought what it can buy..which was not enough, and yes corruptionm messed things up.

But even then, corruption or no corruption, expecting us to reach the level of the US with 1.6 BILLION dollars...shows you have some really funky thinking processes going on there.

So, please don't make me laugh by your assumption we can reach US level with less than one tenth of what the US spends.

Before you start...I am no APC fan. That we have 1.6 billion to spend on defencve shows we need to vote a party next time that would raise our national income to a level where we can afford to beat the US at their game.

$1B is ok for domestic security. Are we fighting any nation? You don't even nuclear heads or expensive bombers to destroy terrorists.
US has big defense budget because of her involvement in international conflict.

capitalzero:


$1B is ok for domestic security. Are we fighting any nation? You don't even nuclear heads or expensive bombers to destroy terrorists.

We don't need nuclear warheads or such to fight Boko...but we do need far more than just 1.6 billion dollars really.

War costs money.

Our army is also involved in antibanditry, anti-piracy, etc etc. And they act like the local police in many areas.

US has big defense budget because of her involvement in international conflict.

And they can pay for it because they run a productive economy. Nigeria does not run a productive economy.