Tiamiyu, who was one of the three victims recently held in captivity for nine days by kidnappers in Oyo State, has described the experience as horrendous. The survivor spoke about how he and two other victims, Emmanuel and Adeola (surnames withheld), were drinking water from puddles in the bush, and fed with little amount of food cooked by their kidnappers once a day. He recalled how he and Emmanuel, another victim, were beaten so much, with Emmanuel receiving the beating more than him, in their move to quicken response to their demands.
Saturday Tribune had published on Saturday, April 11, the story of how the three staff of Globus Triton, a chicken rearing company at Ogunmakin area in the outskirts of Ibadan were kidnapped on Thursday, April 2, by gunmen on the farm road when they were leaving for home.
It was gathered that the kidnappers had suddenly emerged, all of them masked, from the bush along the road. They had surrounded the pickup van that was conveying the company staff, and collected their belongings before shooing four out of the about 15 people being conveyed into the bush. After almost one hour of walking in the bush, they reportedly sat their victims down, asked questions and allowed the fourth person, a woman popularly known as Iya Yemisi who was trembling, shivering and crying, to leave.
From that point, the victims were dragged further into the bush and made to walk for over eight hours, without illumination, before they had a rest. And the suffering continued until they breathed the air of freedom in the night of Friday, April 10, after the payment of an undisclosed amount, but unconfirmed report said it was N30 million.
Even when the incident was reported to the police command, operatives, in collaboration with vigilantes, local hunters and Amotekun Corps began bush combing to rescue the victims, but the kidnappers reportedly told the person they were negotiating the ransom with to stop the search, threatening to kill their captives and leave the bush. Till now, no one knows how the kidnappers got to know the presence of the security forces in the bush, as they mentioned the particular bush areas the intending rescuers passed through such as Kopek, Oja’badan, Ogunmakin and Triton areas.
People from the community were also said to have held a meeting with the police a day before the release of the victims, pleading with the security agents not to go after the kidnappers again.
Tiamiyu narrated what he and two other victims went through: “On Thursday, April 2, our Farm Manager and I were in Farm Two when I learnt from our Maintenance Group platform that a borehole control was burning in Farm Three. And we have many mature birds in the pens. I was concerned that the birds would be affected as they need constant water to drink. I quickly went there with our company’s pickup van because the motorcycle I should have taken was faulty.”
“We left Farm Two, and after passing Farm Eight, the vehicle stopped because there was no fuel in it. The driver got down and went back to the office to get fuel. After refuelling the vehicle, we got in and moved. First, I went to our hostel to get a functioning borehole control and other things I needed for the repair of the borehole. Immediately, we got to Farm Three, and I quickly made necessary repairs so that water would start flowing for the birds to take.”
“At about 4:30 p.m., I concluded my work and was about to leave when other farm workers said they would follow me. I sat beside the driver while four sat on the back seat and others at the open back of the van. We were about 15.”
“We were at Farm Three junction when I heard a loud gunshot behind us. Before we could turn to see what was happening, we saw armed men emerging at our front. They were about 10 in number and wearing masks. They started barking at us: ‘Everybody, come down. Where is your Oga (boss)’? We told them there was no boss among us, as we were all labourers.”
“The armed men, all Fulani, started collecting the bags and phones of all of us. They also collected the loaves of bread and soft drinks that a woman among us brought to the farm to sell. At that time, my phone was in my pocket. They collected my cross bag containing my newly-purchased N35,0000 power bank and other items.”
“Among us, they picked me, Emmanuel who also works in the maintenance section, a woman called Adeola and popularly known as ‘Iya Ismo’, and another woman, Iya Yemisi. They left others.”
“We started walking with the 10 kidnappers. We saw three of them armed with guns that looked like the ones used by the police. Some of them were in front of us while others were behind. After about 45 minutes, we got to a place and they told us to sit down. One of the two female victims, Iya Yemisi, was shaking uncontrollably and crying. They asked for the number of children she has and she told them they are two and very young. They asked her again if she could find her way out of the bush, and she replied affirmatively. They allowed her to leave, while they held three of us captive. The woman with us, a pen attendant, Adeola, was in her first trimester of pregnancy, but our abductors didn’t know.”
The kidnap survivor continued: “From that point, we trekked for about eight and half hours until they stopped after 1 a.m. As we walked, they were just biting into the loaves of bread they took from the seller when they ambushed us. We would walk for about two hours and stop for a rest. This was the trend. We were moving from one location to another every time. We never slept at a particular spot twice. They knew where they were going. They knew all the nooks and crannies of the bush without putting on torch lights.”
“There were teak trees so tall that no one outside the forest would know what was going on inside it. Sometimes, we would be hearing farmers talking in their farms at a distance. No one among us dared to say we were in the bush with our captors. They would have killed us immediately. Sometimes, there would be stone crushing sound from a company’s machine.”
“We kept moving. We got to a point, and they brought out a pot hidden in the bush and started cooking rice with ground pepper and palm oil. No fish, no meat. That was what we ate throughout our stay with them in the bush. Our meal was most of the time once a day. They would scoop a little on a leaf for each of us to eat. We were drinking water from rain puddles. They were also doing the same.”
“We were kept in a dense part of the bush that even when rain fell heavily, we just felt a few drops because the trees were interwoven above us. We had to make a V-shape shed for ourselves from teak tree leaves when rain fell three or four times while we were in the bush. They told us to turn our backs to them so that we would not stare at them despite having their faces covered with masks.”
“On Friday, April 5, they cooked, but I didn’t join others because I was fasting. I used to pray there too, but none of them observed prayer times despite being Muslims like me. I was performing ablutions with sand. They would allow me but be looking at me from a distance. We were put together like cows that they were watching. In the evening, when I wanted to break my fast, I was given water.”
“Later, they started beating me and the other male victim, but they spared the woman. The beating was so much on the other guy. They smashed big sticks on his legs. They were doing to make us call people that would pay the ransom being demanded.”
“It was a terrible experience. Even as I’m speaking, whenever I remember them, my body would be shaking. That was because I didn’t know if we would get out of it alive or we would be dead. We didn’t know what was in their minds. They were not people we could talk to. They were the ones controlling us, and we didn’t have an option but to obey their instructions. They were conversing with us in English, but they were speaking Hausa among themselves.”
“The third day, they started demanding N70 million ransom. They told us to call those who would pay for us to regain our freedom. At that time, they had collected my phone which rang in my pocket shortly after we left the spot where we were abducted. There was a time they told us: “Your people have brought in the police. You better warn them to tell the police to leave, if not, we will kill the three of you.’
“I asked one of the abductors to allow me check my phone for the number of our Admin. Manager. I started calling him. Anytime they wanted to speak with him, they would come to me to ask the Admin. Manager if he was ready. Fearfully, I would call him, pleading for quick payment to avoid being killed.”
“At a point, they agreed to collect N5 million. We were happy that we would soon return to our families, but they later rejected the amount, threatening to kill us if the money demanded by them was not paid. They usually snatched the phone from us whenever we called the negotiator. They would not want to discuss it in our presence. They would only come back to us when they could not reach an agreement. However, I knew when they agreed to N10 million per person. When the company said it would pay N20 million, the abductors replied that there was no problem with it as they would kill one of us whose payment was not made. They asked him to name the person to be killed if N20 million was paid. They also said that they would have no choice than to choose any of us if he didn’t name the person to be killed in place of ransom.”
“For nine days and eight nights, we didn’t bathe, we didn’t change our clothes, we didn’t brush our teeth. Till now, I don’t have a good phone. When we were leaving, they gave me and Emmanuel our SIM cards. When I asked of my phone, an Infinix Note 11 Pro, they said they had smashed it on the ground and destroyed it. They went away with our power banks. They took my airpod and other things in my cross bag. They didn’t give me a pin out of it. The gang leader even started using my ash colour cross bag right in the bush, slinging it across his left shoulder to his side. He used it all the time we were with them. I bought my phone for N140,000 but I went to ask for one close to it after I regained freedom, the price I was given was N340,000.”
“I saw that they just go for anyone they see. They don’t want to know if you are a labourer or a struggler. All they need is money, and they don’t care how the money comes. They just take it, and if you don’t pay, you get killed.”
“On Friday, April 10, the abductors made a call and thereafter told us that our people would come for our release. At about 6:30, 7 p.m., about seven of them left us while three were kept back to watch us. One of the three gang members left behind had a gun. We didn’t see those who left for about one and a half hours. Later, they called those with us, telling them to bring us out. We started walking and came out to a narrow road. We saw the vehicle that conveyed the person who brought the ransom, and our captors told us to go inside it. We knew then that it was the ransom they went to collect when they left us. We left the spot after 8p.m.”
@ Nigerian Tribune
