Sixteen victims rescued from kidnappers in Kogi State have begun recounting their harrowing ordeal in captivity, with one of them revealing that the abductors threatened to sell them to ritualists if their families failed to pay the demanded ransoms.
The victims were abducted on Sunday when armed criminals attacked commuters along roads in Ofu Local Government Area of the state.
They were rescued on Monday in a joint operation involving the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, police and local vigilantes.
A local hunter was killed during the operation, while a police officer sustained injuries.
One of the rescued victims, Ngozi Stephen, said the kidnappers forced her to serve as an interpreter because she speaks Hausa, making her relay ransom demands to the families of fellow captives.
According to her, the abductors demanded varying sums from the victims’ relatives, with some ransom demands reaching as high as N100 million.
“They told me, tell this person N50 million, tell this person N100 million, tell this person N70 million,” Stephen recalled, explaining that she communicated the demands to the victims’ families.
She said the kidnappers also demanded N70 million for her release and threatened her when she attempted to negotiate for a reduction.
Stephen said the abductors confiscated the victims’ phones and laptops and kept the phones switched off, only returning them when they wanted the captives to contact their relatives over ransom payments.
She said the situation became even more terrifying when the kidnappers threatened to sell the victims to ritualists if the ransom demands were not met.
“At some points, they were even threatening that if we were not able to provide the money, they would just sell us to ritualists,” she said.
The captives regained their freedom after the kidnappers fled on hearing gunshots from the advancing security operatives, abandoning some of the victims’ phones and laptops.
Another survivor, Joshua Daniel, recounted how he sustained a deep cut while attempting to escape.
Daniel said one of the kidnappers chased him and attacked him with a cutlass, severing a vein in his hand and leaving him bleeding throughout the night.
He said he eventually applied herbs to the wound, which helped stop the bleeding.
Daniel identified one of the abductors as Peter and said the kidnappers communicated among themselves in Igala, Fulani and Hausa languages.
Despite his injury, he said he assisted in evacuating an injured police officer from the kidnappers’ hideout to the main road during the rescue operation.
The 16 rescued victims comprised six adult men, six women and four children. They underwent documentation, medical assessment and reunification with their families after their rescue.