A rescued National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, David Ayodele, has recounted the harrowing experience he and other abductees endured after being kidnapped and taken into a forest in Kogi State.
Ayodele said the kidnappers threatened to keep the victims in captivity for one month before killing them, while also warning that anyone who moved without permission would be shot, reports Vanguard.
The Corps member was among 15 NYSC members and six other Nigerians rescued from a kidnappers’ den in Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State.
He said the victims were abducted while travelling from Bayelsa State to Abuja after completing their NYSC orientation programme and undergoing relocation.
Recounting the incident after his rescue, Ayodele said the driver of the vehicle attempted to escape when the kidnappers emerged, but the occupants were eventually forced out at gunpoint.
“Driver tried to escape, but he said, Who’s the driver? Who’s the driver? And I held the driver, then they opened the door, and they started leading us to the bush while they were shooting, you know, rounds of bullets in the air,” he said.
According to him, the victims were subjected to flogging, kicking and verbal abuse as they were forced deeper into the forest.
“Then we made our way to the bush with flogging and kicking and shouting and stuff,” he said.
Ayodele said the kidnappers later told the victims they would remain in the forest for a month before being killed.
“We reached one kind of bushy area; they asked us to sit down, they asked us who would drink water, that we would be here for one month, so they would kill all of us,” he recounted.
He said the threat left the abductees too frightened to move without permission.
“They warned us that if anybody moved without permission that they will shoot the person, so none of us really attempted to move because of fear and stuff,” he said.
The victims were subsequently made to trek for a considerable distance through the forest before security operatives eventually reached them.
“So we moved a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot and then thank God the Nigerian Army came to meet us,” he said.
Ayodele praised the security agencies involved in the rescue operation, including the Nigerian Army, police, Department of State Services and local hunters.
He said he had completed his NYSC orientation programme in Bayelsa State before being relocated to Abuja.
“I did my orientation camp in Bayelsa camp,” he said.
We walked for a long time, and they threated to kill us.
Explaining how he joined the vehicle that was later intercepted, Ayodele said corps members were transported in organised vehicles to various states after the orientation programme.
“So, on our way from Bayelsa, because we did relocation back to Abuja, so we were going to Abuja from Bayelsa camp. There were organised vehicles going to different states, so luckily we saw an Abuja vehicle,” he said.
The rescue brought an end to the ordeal of the 21 victims who had been held by the kidnappers in the Ofu area of Kogi State.
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