A rescued National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, David Ayodele, has recounted the ordeal he and 20 other abductees endured after being kidnapped and taken into a forest in Kogi State.
Ayodele said the kidnappers subjected the victims to beatings, kicks and threats of execution, warning that anyone who moved without their permission would be shot.
The corps member was among 15 NYSC members and six other Nigerians rescued by security operatives from a kidnappers’ hideout in Ofu Local Government Area of the state.
According to him, the victims were abducted while travelling from Bayelsa State to Abuja after completing their NYSC orientation programme and undergoing relocation.
He explained that corps members were transported in organised vehicles to their various destinations when he joined a vehicle heading to Abuja.
“I did my orientation camp in Bayelsa camp. So, on our way from Bayelsa, because we did relocation back to Abuja, so we were going to Abuja from Bayelsa camp,” Ayodele said.
He said trouble began when the vehicle was intercepted by the kidnappers, who opened fire into the air and ordered everyone out.
Ayodele said the driver initially attempted to escape but was eventually overpowered, after which the abductors marched the passengers into the forest under gunfire.
“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,” he recounted.
He said the victims were beaten and kicked as they were forced deeper into the bush.
“Then we made our way to the bush with flogging and kicking and shouting and stuff,” he said.
Ayodele said the situation became more frightening when the kidnappers told the victims they would remain in captivity 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 threats left the abductees too frightened to make any attempt to 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,” Ayodele said.
According to him, the victims were subsequently forced to trek through the forest for a long distance before the arrival of the security forces.
“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 commended the security agencies involved in the operation, including the Nigerian Army, police, Department of State Services (DSS) and local hunters, for securing the victims’ freedom.
The rescue came after the abductors reportedly held the corps members and other victims in the forest, with security forces conducting a search-and-rescue operation to locate them.
The rescued corps member expressed relief at the intervention of the security agencies, saying the victims feared for their lives throughout the ordeal.
