My ordeal in the hands of kidnaper herdsmen — Victim

For Mr. Austin Abide Odion (in his 40s), a telecoms engineer and cousin to the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, from Unemeh-Uzanu in Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State, the events of December 23, 2021 will remain indelible in his memory.

Odion, who works in Anambra State, while his family is based in Benin City, narrated what led to the kidnapping of himself and the friend he was traveling with on that day to journalists in Benin City, Edo State on Friday.

“On December 23, 2021, I left Benin City, to celebrate Christmas in my hometown, Unemeh-Uzanu, in Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State, where the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Mr. Clem Agba, also hails from. I am a cousin to Mr. Agba.

“I decided to travel on December 23, 2021, to beat the usually-heavy traffic on Christmas eve and to be able to attend to some important matters in my hometown.

“I joined from Benin City at 2 p.m., the Mercedes Benz 320 car of my bosom friend, Lawrence Egumamhe, an indigene of Agenebode, the Headquarters of Etsako East LGA. I sat on the passenger’s seat, while Egumamhe’s three boys, aged 12, 10, and 8, sat at the back of the car.

“As we were ascending the hill between Fugar and Agenebode, just by vigilante members’ checkpoint, around 7 p.m., we saw some men who pointed the torch at us, and we thought that they were vigilante members since the spot was their (vigilante) usual checkpoint, but they suddenly started to shoot directly at us and our car, using AK-47 assault rifles.

“The sporadic gunshots were deafening, with the nine unmasked/unhooded Fulani herdsmen, who were freely speaking Fulfude (Fulani language) firing bullets at us from the left, right, front, and back.

“When it became obvious that the gunmen were kidnappers, Egumamhe attempted to make a U-turn, to quickly return to Fugar, but I pleaded with him not to try the suicide mission, in order not to endanger the lives of his three children, who could be killed by the kidnappers in anger.

“When the sporadic gunshots subsided and the kidnappers were coming towards our car, Egumamhe and I quickly hid our mobile phones in the car, with the three kids watching us, but I could not hide the bag containing a huge sum of money that I was traveling with, to avoid the stress of withdrawing money in my hometown, especially through Point Of Sale (POS) machine. The kidnappers first removed the bag containing my money and marched Egumamhe and me into the forest, leaving my friend’s three children in his car.

“The oldest of the children later smartly and courageously picked his father’s mobile phone and called his mother in Benin City to inform her of the kidnap and their location, with my friend’s wife contacting some of their relatives in Agenebode, who quickly rushed to the scene with some vigilante members, rescued the children and moved them and the car to the Divisional Police Headquarters at Agenebode, with the children explaining to the police what happened and they, were moved to the house of their paternal grandmother at Agenebode, but they were later returned to Benin City.

“Egumamhe and I were with the kidnappers in the forest for four days, without food or water, while we continued to trek a long distance and we moved towards Okenne in Kogi State. We begged the kidnappers to allow us to drink dirty water in the forest, but they refused, as they were only interested in collecting ransom from our people. We celebrated Christmas and Boxing Day with the criminals in the forest.

“When the nine Fulani herdsmen wanted to make calls to negotiate a ransom, my friend and I would be forced to join them to climb high mountains, to have networks. The kidnappers initially demanded N15 million ransom from my people, but it was negotiated. My people in Benin City and Agenebode eventually paid ransom to the kidnappers in millions of naira, but I will not disclose the exact amount, for security reasons,” he said.

(New Telegraph)