Boies Schiller Wins Rights Chase For Nigerian Farmer Abdullahi Tumburkai’s Harrowing Tale, Negotiating Freedom Of Kidnapped Brothers & Then His Wife
deadline.comEXCLUSIVE: A most unusual rights deal has closed, as Boies Schiller Entertainment bested several producer/financiers vying to tell the story of Abdullahi Tumburkai.
Who?He is a farmer in Nigeria, who, in a desperate race to save the lives of his two brothers, successfully negotiated and ransomed their freedom from kidnappers.Kidnapping has become a cottage industry in regions of Nigeria amid poverty and the inability to make a living in the farming region of Kaduna.
After getting his brothers back — Tumburkai sold his farm and paid around $13,000 to free them after 33 days — he became the neighborhood go-to guy for others desperate to recover kidnapped love ones.
Tumburkai did all this for free, defying the government that had taken a firm stance against negotiating with kidnappers. The governor of Tumburkai’s home state of Kaduna even vowed to prosecute all negotiators for aiding the cause of terrorists and filling their coffers.Then, Tumburkai was forced to use the skills he learned in freeing around 80 captives, when his pregnant wife Fatima was among 37 college students kidnapped.
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