How We Endured Four Hellish Days In Ondo Kidnappers’ Den – NYSC Members Recount
Members of the national youth service corps (NYSC), who were released after paying ransom on the fourth day in the kidnappers’ den in ondo state have recounted their experience.
On Thursday, July 18, 2024, as travellers traversed a major road along Omi Alafa Village in Ifon, Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State, armed men in a commando-like style jumped out from the thickets, shooting sporadically at vehicles.
Confused and stricken by fear, several inter-state bus drivers frantically stopped at safe distances.
However, a particular bus that had its two front tyres riddled with bullets swayed dangerously at high speed.
As it stopped abruptly a few inches from where a barricade had been mounted, angry, gun-wielding men swooped on the passengers.
Based on reports, some of the travellers, including four National Youth Service Corps members, one artisan and four others, were marched deep into the forest. The corps members, it was gathered, were returning from the NYSC orientation camps in Enugu and Abia states, respectively, after a three-week stay.
While two travellers escaped unhurt, the driver and the passenger beside him were unlucky, as they were shot, and their bullet-riddled bodies left slouched against the doors.
As news of the kidnap spread, families ran helter-skelter to raise the ransom of N1m for each of the victims as demanded by the abductors.
Four days later, the bandits released five victims following the payment of N5m ransom.
Among those freed was Patience Andrew, who appeared frail and sick from walking barefooted for kilometres and without food for days.
The traumatised young man described the four-day experience in the den of the bandits as horrible and hellish. He said they were viciously beaten with knives and sticks by their abductors and given only garri and dirty water to eat once a day.
Recounting his experience, a visibly shaken Andrew said, “We boarded a bus from Abia State to Onitsha, but our driver was not driving fast enough. At Onitsha, one of the drivers took us to where we boarded a vehicle going to Akure.
“Despite boarding the bus by 2pm, we didn’t leave Onitsha until about 5pm. We were nine passengers. It was when we got to Ondo State around 10pm that the incident happened. After forcing us to stop, the armed men flashed torchlights at the driver, and he said, ‘Oga, I no see you.’
“Immediately he said that, they shot him and the woman sitting next to him, and they died on the spot. One man was cut with a cutlass. We don’t know what happened to him because he ran away. Then they brought us out of the vehicle and marched us into the forest. We trekked from past 10pm till around 7am the following day. The kidnappers were five and their age range should be around 25 years. They spoke a mixture of Hausa and Fulani languages and had an interpreter.
“We were tortured and only given garri and water once a day. At first, they demanded N30m for each person, but as the negotiation went on, they brought it down to N3m and later, N1m. We slept inside the bush throughout the day and moved only at night. At some point, we heard dogs barking and the sound of cattle in the bush; but we kept moving. We passed through farmlands but didn’t see anybody.”
One of the victims’ family members, Oluwadara Olamide, who took the ransom to the bandits in the forest, also narrated how hectic it was coming up with the amount demanded and taking it to the bandits in the forest.
He said, “They gave me a location and told me to be there before 10am. I gathered the money and got to Owo at 9.30am. Before then, they warned, ‘if you bring wahala, wahala plenty here’.
“They told me to go to Ago Alhaji village, and when I got there, I called and they directed me another another village called Ago Pan. When I got there, I called the number they gave me again, and a young man came out from bush with a gun and commanded me to follow him. We walked for a while and entered the forest where some fully armed men were waiting and showed them the money in a bag. They called on other members to bring out the victims.”
This kidnap incident is among many that have taken place in the Sunshine State in recent times, particularly around border communities.
These communities specifically line the stretch of Ondo-Edo, Ondo-Ekiti, and the Ondo-Kogi borders. Residents of these communities, it was gathered, have been appealing to the state government, the police, army, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, and the paramilitary group, Amotekun, to intensify surveillance in the area.
In February 2024, gunmen killed the driver of an 18-seater commercial bus and abducted its passengers at the border town of Akunnu, in the Akoko North-East Local Government Area of Ondo State.
Also, in May this year, bandits kidnapped some travellers in the border town of Irun Akoko, along Irun/Imesi Ekiti Road in Akoko North-West LGA.
It was learnt that bandits usually come from neighbouring states to perpetrate heinous acts in Ondo and as soon as they are through, they return to their base in other states.
According to security experts, there is a need for Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, who is the chief security officer of the state, to collaborate with governors of Ekiti, Edo, and Kogi states, in checkmating kidnapping and other crimes in the border communities and on highways.
(Punch)
