David Ayodele, a freed National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, has narrated his story and those of other abductees after being kidnaped and carried into a forest in Kogi State.
Ayodele added, according to Vanguard’s report, the kidnappers threatened to keep the captives in custody for one month before executing them, warning that anyone who moved without permission would be shot.
The Corps member was among 15 NYSC members and six other Nigerians rescued from a kidnapper’s den in Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State. Exploration of African Diaspora Media
He said the victims were abducted while they were travelling from Bayelsa State to Abuja after completing their NYSC orientation session and were relocated.
The vehicle’s driver had tried to escape when the kidnappers came, but the occupants had finally been dragged out at gunpoint, Ayodele recalled while narrating the story following his release.
“Driver tried to run, but he said, Who’s the driver? Who’s driving? And I held the driver, then they opened the door and they started bringing us to the bush while they were shooting, you know, rounds of gunshots in the air,” he said.
The victims were whipped, kicked and verbally abused as they were taken further into the forest, he said.
Then we went into the bush with flogging and kicking and shouting and stuff,” he said.
Ayodele said the kidnappers later warned the captives that they would stay in the wilderness for a month before being killed.
‘We came to a kind of bushy area, they told us to sit down, they asked us who would drink water, that we’d be here for one month, so they would kill all of us,’ he said.
He said the danger kept the abductees so terrified they would not move without permission.
“They told us if anybody moves without permission that they will shoot the person, so none of us really tried to move because of fear and stuff,” he claimed.
The victims were later forced to journey a long distance through the jungle before security operatives eventually caught up with them.
“So we moved a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot and then thank God the Nigerian Army came to meet us,” he claimed.
He also commended the security services participating in the rescue operation including the Nigerian Army, police, Department of State Services and local hunters.
He said he completed his NYSC orientation program in Bayelsa State and was posted to Abuja.
He stated, “I did my orientation camp in the Bayelsa camp.
They threatened to kill us while we went for a long time.
Ayodele narrated how he boarded the vehicle that was later intercepted. He said corps members were taken in organised vehicles to various states after the orientation program.
“So, 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 ended the suffering of the 21 victims, that were abducted by the kidnappers in the Ofu area of Kogi State.
About the Author
