At least 80 people were kidnapped while clearing farmlands in Tsafe LGA of Zamfara in Northwest Nigeria on Friday morning. Their relatives say they are unnerved by the silence ever since.

Relatives of more than 80 kidnapped people in Garin Wanzamai of Tsafe Local Government Area (LGA) in Northwest Nigeria, have raised concerns over the kidnapping of their family members.

Days since the abduction, they say they haven’t heard from the kidnappers.

The victims —about 80 of them — are thought to be between the ages of 11 and 20 and were kidnapped while helping to clean up farmlands on the morning of April 7, according to locals. They include boys and girls.

“If one of them is not your son, then you’ll find your brother among them,” a resident who spoke to BBC Hausa Service said, explaining that the children have ties to every single family in the town, causing the entire community to fear.

According to two other parents who didn’t mention their names, their daughters were among the kidnapped children, and they are waiting for calls from their kidnappers.

One of the mothers added, “We are in trouble here because we don’t know what the children are going through right now.”

The Zamfara State Government has not yet made a statement on the matter and HumAngle’s attempts to contact the Zamfara State Police Command for comment were unsuccessful.

Zamfara State is one of Nigeria’s most troubled states suffering from security issues for which numerous attempts at remedies have been unsuccessful.

The state has been plagued by insecurity for several years, with frequent cases of terrorism, kidnapping, and other forms of criminal activities.

The terrorists in the state are known to operate in large numbers and are heavily armed with sophisticated weapons.

They often target soft targets such as schools and villages, where they kidnap and hold people for ransom.

Recently, two female students from a university were kidnapped by the terrorists and are yet to regain their freedom.