Gunmen on the Sokoto-Zamfara Expressway seized around 50 members of the GSM Communication Union and demanded a ransom of N145 million naira.
The robbers demanded a five million naira ransom from each of the kidnapped victims, claiming that they would not release them individually but collectively, according to DAILY POST.
Seven of the kidnapped victims have been recovered by members of the local vigilante organisation, according to the union in Gusau, the capital of Zamfara State.
Over 50 of the union's members were abducted on Saturday evening in Dogon Awo, a hamlet near Tureta town on the border of Sokoto and Zamfara states, after returning from a wedding celebration in Sokoto.
"The victims include mobile phone and accessory traders in Bebeji plaza in Gusau, the capital of Zamfara State," according to the union.
Seven members of the union were recovered by members of the local vigilante organisation known as Yansakai on Sunday evening, about twenty-four hours after their kidnapping, according to the union's State Secretary, Mr. Nasiru Musa.
"On Monday morning, the bandits called us several times to update us of their position regarding our members that are with them.
"They demanded five million naira for each of the 30 kidnapped people they had with them, for a total of 145 million naira before they could be released."
"The bandits demanded that the money be paid in full, threatening that they would not deal with the victims individually unless they were paid in full.
"On Monday morning, the DPO of Bakura Local Government Area contacted to tell us that seven of the abducted victims had been freed by the Yansakai group on Sunday evening," he said.
"We've dispatched a delegation to bring them to Gusau, the state capital, so that they can be reunited with their families," he said.
However, Alhaji Mustapha Khalifa, the Chairman of the Union in the State's Gusau Local Government Area, has appealed to the victims' families and relatives to remain calm and intensify prayers.
According to him, the union was doing everything it could to guarantee that the victims were free of the bandits as soon as possible.
"We are urging the victims' parents and relatives to be calm, as we are likewise concerned and horrified by this heinous occurrence." We're working with security agencies and the state government to get them out of there as soon as possible," he said.