A Nigerian man, Bamidele Omojuwa has narrated his ordeal in the hands of kidnappers for a week, while he was heading to Port Harcourt.
What was supposed to be a quick journey with the other seven passengers became a sour and unforgettable episode.
According to Bamidele, his painful experience began after he boarded a vehicle at the Benin-Port Harcourt Park located beside Bovas Filling Station along Ore-Benin Way, in the evening of July 31, 2023.
He explained that the kidnappers, a total of 10 men, who were initially mistaken as mere armed robbers waylaid them in Gbogi, a village after Ofosu.
He said that while six were shooting sporadically in front of the vehicle, the other four were behind, making it difficult for anyone to escape.
Bamidele told Thelensng that he and the other victims were tied to a tree and tortured for days inside the forest. They eventually let him go after his family parted with a large sum of money.
Read the full story below.
“It was in the evening of 31st July, 2023 at about 5:46 pm , I was on my way to Portharcourt. I boarded at Benin -Ph park which is located beside Bovas Filling Station along Ore-Benin Way.
“We were about seven passengers in the vehicle. We were waylaid in Gbogi a village after Ofosu. Initially, I thought they were armed rubbers not knowing they were kidnappers armed with AK 47/49 they were about ten in number.
“Six of the kidnappers were shooting sporadically in front of the vehicle and four behind the vehicle, making it difficult for anybody to escape.
“We were taken to the forest and trekked for about 4 hours when they stopped and started profiling us one after the other. The leader of the gang told us that we had been kidnapped and that we should be prepared to trek till the following day.
“They allowed us to rest for about 45 minutes and we began to trek while they were hitting us with all kinds of sticks, wire etc.
“It was raining on that day few minutes after we were kidnapped. We wey drenched by the rain throughout the night of 31st of July and 1st of August, 2023.
“When they got to their destination in the forest, they tied us to trees and blindfolded us and started torturing us. The torturing continued towards the evening of the second day before they asked me to call my family members.
“They demanded for 20m ransom and insisted that if my family failed to bring the money within three days that I would be killed.
“My family started negotiating with them to reduce the ransom to 5m which infuriated their anger and they ordered me to lie down which I did. Two of them stood on me and were hitting me with with their guns while I was excruciating in pains. This continued for about two hrs, when they noticed I was weak, their leader asked them to stop.
“The torture, maiming etc was sustained everyday for seven days non stop before the ransom was brought to them on the seventh day” (sic).
Great journalistic work. Thanks for your brilliant reportage. Keep up the good work
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