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The finance minister of the Nigerian state of Zamfara, kidnapped by gunmen in an ambush in which his deputy was killed, was released with one of his aides, a spokesman for the region said Wednesday.
The government "expressed its joy at the release of the state budget director … and another person who was abducted under the threat of a firearm," he said. Zamfara State spokesman Yusuf Idris said in a statement.
The officials "congratulated the friends of the victims and all those who negotiated the release," Idris said.
On Sunday, armed men dressed as members of the security forces kidnapped Zamfara's Minister of Finance, Hamza Salihu, along with two collaborators, and killed his deputy on a highway in the neighboring state of Kaduna, a region of prey to violence between farmers and herders.
The spokesman did not comment on the fate of the second kidnapped badistant and did not say whether a ransom was paid for the release of the hostages.
The victims were on an official trip when they were ambushed by gunmen, who also injured a colleague from Salihu.
Attacks on kidnappings have increased in northwestern Nigeria, the home of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Criminal groups and bandit gangs – cattle thefts, kidnappings and destruction of villages – have benefited from the lack of security in rural areas.
Entire villages have been deserted by the fear of raids by criminal gangs that have created a refuge for the dense forest that extends into northwestern Nigeria and neighboring Niger.
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