UPDATE: kidnappers of 92-year-old Ali Monguno demand release of terror suspects.

This is a follow-up on This Story.

-Kidnappers demand release of terror suspect and not money.

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Shettima Ali Monguno

Gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect on Yestaday kidnapped an elder statesman, Alhaji Shettima Monguno, at the Mafoni Jumaat Mosque in Maiduguri, Borno State, shortly after he performed the jumat prayers.

The kidnappers have contacted the family of the 92-year-old man and are demanding the release of some terror suspects being detained by security agents.

It can be recalled that in March 2013, during a stakeholders’ meeting convened by President Goodluck Jonathan in Maiduguri , 92-year-old Ali Monguno challenged the government to identify members of the sect and hold a dialogue with them.

“To be frank, Mr. President, but for dialogue, you wouldn’t have become the President of this country today. Our founding fathers, who got together and begged the British government to hand over the reins of government, had to sit together and forget their differences and agreed that we would live together in harmony,” he had said.

Last week, the Joint Task Force in Maiduguri announced that the dreaded sect had set up a new squad which would engage in kidnapping and two weeks ago, the sect also reportedly made $3.5m from kidnapping a French family in Cameroun.

Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, who chaired the meeting the state's Executive Council was quoted as wondering why “a 92-year-old man that has dedicated his life helping orphans, poor widows and vulnerable children in the society, offering scholarships to children for even Islamic education, building Islamic schools, feeding the poor and even advocating for peaceful negotiation and amnesty for the sect members will be so treated.”