DAUGHTER OF FORMER BANKER REGAINS FREEDOM AFTER 5 DAYS IN CAPTIVITY
…another lender, killed in Ahaoda, Rivers State
PICTURE OF BARAKAT AFTER SHE WAS RELEASED FROM KIDNAPPERS DEN
DAUGHTER OF FORMER BANKER REGAINS FREEDOM AFTER 5 DAYS IN CAPTIVITY
…another lender, killed in Ahaoda, Rivers State
GREATRIBUNETVNEWS–Barakat, the daughter of LADI Microfinance founder Mr. Ajibade Yinusa has been released by her abductors after five days in captivity.
She was released on Monday, December 1, 2025
PICTURE OF BARAKAT AFTER SHE WAS RELEASED FROM THE KIDNAPPERS DEN
Family sources said she was released after payment of an undisclosed ransom.
“The family negotiated her release through a prominent Fulani scholar and leader, and we all contributed money to secure her release,” said our source.
The 400-level Nursing and Midwifery student at Fountain University, Osogbo, was kidnapped in Abuja on November 27, 2025, while visiting her mother.
KEY DETAILS:
Kidnapping Motive: The kidnapping is believed to be linked to Mr. Ajibade’s lending activities, specifically his provision of modest interest loans to women, which the Salafi Islamic sect considers “haram” (sinful).
Threats and Warnings: The Salafi sect had previously warned Mr. Ajibade to stop lending money to women, claiming it was corrupting their wives and giving them financial independence.
Family sources revealed that the genesis of the problem could be traced to 2021 when leadership of Salafi, a notorious Islamic sect, through its spokesperson, issued a stern warning to Mr Ajibade Yinusa to stop lending interest based loans to women
The family member who does not want his name in print because of the sensitive nature of the case, told our correspondent that the refusal of Mr Ajibade to heed their warnings infuriated the Islamic extremists and they started threatening him and his business as they claimed that he, being a Muslim, was corrupting their wives by giving what they term usurious loans to which they consider haram [ sin] claiming that his activities were counter productive as the loans was making their their wives gained financial independence and they are claiming that there are now higher divorce rates within their ranks as a result of what they term exposure to western values through lending and thecfinancial education that their wives are now exposed to.
Barakat who is one of the daughters of Mr Ajibade had left Osogbo for Abuja on Thursday November 27, 2025 to see her mother, unaware that she was being trailed by members of the deadly Islamic sect
.
As soon as she alighted from the bus that transported her to Abuja ,she was trailed and kidnapped and taken to an unknown location where she was kept incommunicado for 2 days before the militants contacted her distraught mother through her phone and were repeatedly asking for the whereabout of her husband,[ Mr Ajibade Yinusa] insisting that it was him that they have scores to settle with as a result of his lending activities to some of their wives in the past which they claimed was haram and forbidden.
Efforts to get the reaction of the Police PRO have been proved abortive as he neither picked our calls nor reacted to our sms at the time of filling this report.
The family was at a loss as the girl’s father has been in hiding for some years now because of physical attacks from the same group [Salafi Organisation ] and the death threat on his health and that of his family.
The mother is scared and has to take her children to an undisclosed location for fear of further attacks.
Ajibade Yinusa was a prominent banker and lender with decades long experience in banking and helped popularise collateral free lending to women groups and vulnerable people in underbanked communities across Nigeria.
In a related development, a Rivers State based microfinance lender, Azeez Adepoju of WAPSI, was waylaid in Ahaoda, Rivers State, and taken to a forest where he was brutally killed.
Multiple eyewitnesses told our correspondence that the vigilante group in the area, with support from the police, recovered his badly mutilated body. He has since been buried according to Islamic rites. The deceased wife claimed that the Salafi had made several attempts on his life previously, warning him to stop lending money to women and vowed to make an example out of him.
Most observers are worried about upsurge in hate filled and religiously motivated murders in recent times and the lack of capacity of the police and security agencies and the court to bring them to justice.
About the Author
