People who were rescued from last Wednesday’s Benue Links kidnapping, including people who were taking the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, have talked about their time in captivity, saying they were tortured, starved, and treated inhumanely for days.
It was known that the victims were taken along the Taraku–Otukpo road in the Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State while they were on their way to different events, such as the UTME.
After about four days in the kidnappers’ den, the passengers were freed on Sunday after security pressure continued.
Governor Hyacinth Alia met them at the Government House in Makurdi and said that eight of the victims were UTME candidates and the rest were just regular commuters.
Gbenda Daniels, an 18-year-old victim, told reporters how the kidnappers took his money and put them in terrible conditions.
“They took my ₦8,000.” “They hit us, and we didn’t eat anything. We only drank dirty water,” he said.
Another victim, Ngukulan Iornav, who was also taking the UTME, said that the kidnappers didn’t feed them well.
“They gave us salt and garri. “I was completely beaten,” she said.
Orih Raphael Sylvester, a medical student at the University of Maiduguri, said that the victims were moved around the forest many times to avoid being seen.
He went on to say, “We were taken into the bush and moved around. We didn’t eat anything the first night because we were always on the go.
“On the second day, we lived off of muddy water.” They beat us and made us call our families on the third day. They also gave us garri.
He said that on the fourth day, the kidnappers put even more pressure on the family to pay the ransom. Sylvester said that the kidnappers later led them to safety as the police closed in.
“Early Sunday, around 4 am, they finally told us how to get to the express road, where we later ran into soldiers. He said, “It was a terrible experience.”
Sunday Augustine, a student at the Federal University of Lafia, was another victim who said he was hurt during the attack.
Akor Jessica also said that the experience was traumatic.
“It was a nightmare.” We went through too much. We were going to take our tests. “They could hit me with big sticks and machetes whenever they wanted, but God helped us through,” she said.
Family Pays Ransom to Get Free
Daily Trust reports that a relative of two of the victims, Ochadgwuba Alexander, said that the kidnappers wanted ₦10 million for each victim.
“I brought ₦3.4 million in cash and supplies to the kidnappers in the bush myself,” he said.
He also said that he called the military later to help get the victims to safety after they were freed.
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