Nigeria: Kidnappers demand $1.2M to release Niger state commissioner

The kidnappers who took hostage of Niger's State Commissioner and Strategy, Muhammad Idris, have demanded a ransom totaling $1.2 million for his release.

The commissioner was kidnapped on Sunday in his hometown, Baban Tunga in the Tafa Local Government Area of the state Sunday by unknown men.

Local reports indicate the bandits contacted the family on Tuesday seeking cash payment to release the commissioner.

The state government has already met to strategies on the release of the commissioner and other hostages in the hands of the unknown men.

The abduction comes merely a day after another politician was abducted at her farm in the same region.

A hundred pupils of a school in Niger state were also kidnapped two months ago by unknown individuals and are still missing to date.

Nigeria's armed forces are still fighting to end the 12-year jihadist insurgency in the country's northeast, a conflict that has left 40,000 people dead and displaced more than two million others.

Mass kidnappings in Nigeria have again made international headlines this year as heavily armed criminal gangs have targeted schools and colleges to abduct students for ransom.

Nearly 1,000 pupils have been snatched in mass abductions since December, mostly in the country's northwestern and central states.

Most have been released but some are still being held after months in captivity.