Nigerian judge freed after kidnapping, police say

Nigerian High Court judge Faruku Hassan Bunza has been freed after being kidnapped from his home in northwestern Kebbi state, police said Monday.

Bunza was abducted by unidentified gunmen in Bunza town on July 26. Bashir Usman, a spokesman for Kebbi state police, said the judge “was released earlier today”.

The exact details of the release were not immediately clear. Usman said the kidnappers made a ransom demand, but that the police command maintained its stance against ransom payments.

Police said the attackers remain at large and that security agencies had intensified efforts to find them.

Kidnappings are routinely used by criminal groups in Nigeria, including jihadists and gangs known locally as bandits, to obtain ransom payments from governments or victims' families. Bandit gangs operate across parts of rural northwest and central Nigeria, where they also raid villages, steal livestock and loot and burn homes.