Two of the 16 travellers rescued from kidnappers in Kogi State have recounted harrowing experiences in captivity, revealing that their abductors demanded ransoms of up to N100m from individual victims and threatened to sell them to ritualists if their families failed to pay.
The victims, Ngozi Stephen and Joshua Daniel, spoke on Tuesday at the Kogi State Police Command headquarters following their rescue during a joint security operation.
The victims were abducted on Sunday when armed criminals attacked commuters along the Ojuwo–Ajengo–Memarebo and Ojiwo–Itobe roads in Ofu Local Government Area of the state.
They were rescued on Monday along the Ajaokuta-Anyigba road in Ofu by troops of the Nigerian Army, personnel of the Nigerian Navy and police, assisted by local vigilantes.
The military had said 16 victims were rescued during the operation, comprising six adult males, six adult females and four children.
The rescued victims were subsequently taken through documentation and medical assessment before arrangements were made for their reunification with their families.
Narrating her experience, Stephen said the kidnappers forced her to act as an interpreter because she could speak Hausa fluently.
She said the abductors assigned different ransom demands to the victims and made her communicate the amounts to them.
According to her, some victims were told to raise N50m, N70m or N100m, while she was also asked to pay N70m.
She said the kidnappers became aggressive whenever victims pleaded for reductions in the ransom demands.
“They told me, tell this person N50 million, tell this person N100 million, tell this person N70 million. That was how they were sharing it.”
Stephen said the criminals confiscated the victims’ mobile phones and switched them off, only returning the devices when they wanted the victims to contact relatives over ransom payments.
She added that the abductors threatened to hand the victims over to ritualists if their families failed to raise the demanded sums.
“They were even threatening that if we were not able to provide the money, they would just sell us to ritualists and all that,” she said.
Stephen said the kidnappers fled when they heard gunshots from the advancing security operatives, abandoning a bag containing phones and laptops seized from the victims.
She expressed relief that the victims recovered their belongings and survived the ordeal.
‘I bled throughout the night’
Daniel, another rescued victim, said he sustained an injury while attempting to escape from the kidnappers.
He said he spotted an opening shortly after their abduction and ran into the bush but was pursued by one of the criminals.
According to him, the fleeing attempt ended with him sustaining a serious cut to his hand while trying to protect himself.
“That is when the cutlass landed here and cut my vein. So, I was bleeding throughout the night,” he said.
Daniel said the bleeding eventually stopped after he applied herbs to the wound.
He disclosed that the kidnappers communicated in Igala, Fulani and Hausa, apparently making it difficult for the victims to understand their conversations.
He also said one of the abductors identified himself as Peter.
Despite his injury, Daniel said he assisted in carrying an injured police officer from the kidnappers’ hideout to the main road after the security operation.
“Even when I had this cut on my hand, I helped in carrying the officer from where we were held captive to the main road where we entered the car. My hand was swelling,” he said.
Daniel expressed gratitude to the security personnel involved in the rescue operation but lamented the death of a local hunter during the operation.
He commiserated with the family of the deceased and praised the security operatives for risking their lives to rescue the victims.
The military had confirmed that a local hunter was killed while a police officer sustained injuries during the operation.
The successful rescue has again highlighted the growing security concerns along major roads in Kogi, particularly routes linking communities in the eastern and central parts of the state..
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