Rescued corps member recounts death threats, ordeal in Kogi kidnappers’ den

A rescued National Youth Service Corps member (NYSC), David Ayodele, has recounted how kidnappers allegedly threatened to kill him and other victims after abducting them and taking them into a forest in Kogi State.

Ayodele said the abductors warned that the victims would remain in captivity for one month before being killed, while also threatening to shoot anyone who moved without their permission.

The corps member said the victims were forced into the forest after their vehicle, which was travelling from Bayelsa State to Abuja, was intercepted following their relocation from the NYSC orientation camp.

According to Ayodele, the driver tried to escape when the kidnappers appeared, but the occupants were eventually forced out of the vehicle as the abductors fired shots into the air.

“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, you know, rounds of bullets in the air,” he said.

He said the abductees were subjected to flogging, kicking and other forms of physical abuse as they were marched into the bush.

“Then we made our way to the bush with flogging and kicking and shouting and stuff,” he said.

After taking the victims deeper into the forest, Ayodele said the kidnappers told them they would spend a month there 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 recounted.

He said the captors’ warning that anyone who moved without authorisation would be shot kept the victims from attempting to escape or move freely.

“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,” he said.

Ayodele said the victims were subsequently made to cover a considerable distance through the forest before security personnel eventually reached them.

“So we moved a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot and then thank God the Nigerian Army came to meet us,” he said.

He commended the security agencies involved in the operation, including the military, police, Department of State Services and local hunters, for their role in securing the victims’ freedom.

Ayodele said he had completed his NYSC orientation programme at the Bayelsa camp before travelling towards Abuja after being relocated.

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“I did my orientation camp in Bayelsa camp,” he said.

He explained that corps members were being transported in organised vehicles to their various destinations when he joined one heading for Abuja.

“So, on our way from Bayelsa, because we did relocation back to Abuja, so we were going to Abuja from Bayelsa camp. There were organised vehicles going to different states, so luckily we saw an Abuja vehicle,” he said.

Ayodele was among 15 NYSC members and six other Nigerians rescued from a kidnappers’ den in Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State.