A rescued National Youth Service Corps member, David Ayodele, has recounted his terrifying experience in the hands of kidnappers who allegedly abducted him and other passengers and took them into a forest in Kogi State.
Ayodele said the kidnappers threatened to kill the victims after keeping them in captivity for one month, while warning that anyone who moved without permission would be shot.
He was among 15 NYSC members and six other Nigerians rescued from a kidnappers’ den in Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State.
According to him, the victims were travelling from Bayelsa State to Abuja after completing their NYSC orientation programme when their vehicle was intercepted by the abductors.
He said the driver attempted to escape after the kidnappers appeared, but the passengers were eventually forced out of the vehicle as the armed men fired shots into the air.
“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 rounds of bullets in the air,” Ayodele recounted.
He said the victims were subjected to physical abuse, including flogging and kicking, as they were marched 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 ordered the victims to sit in a bushy area and told them they would remain there 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 said.
He added that the captors warned that anyone who moved without their permission would be shot, leaving the victims too afraid to attempt an escape.
“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.
According to Ayodele, the victims were later moved over a considerable distance through the forest before security operatives eventually located and rescued 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.
He commended the Nigerian Army, police, Department of State Services and local hunters for their roles in securing the victims’ freedom.
Ayodele explained that he had completed his orientation programme at the NYSC camp in Bayelsa State before travelling to Abuja following his relocation.
“I did my orientation camp in Bayelsa camp,” he said.
He said corps members were being transported in organised vehicles to their various destinations when he joined one heading to Abuja.
“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 operation freed 15 NYSC members and six other Nigerians who had been held captive in the Ofu forest area of Kogi State.
