MY KIDNAPPERS THREATENED TO MARRY ME AND TOOK MY UNIFORM – CORPER
Read Time:3 Minute, 45 Second
Rofiat Lawal, a member of the National Youth Service Corps, was kidnapped last Tuesday along the Benin-Ore Expressway. She revealed that her kidnappers threatened to marry her and send her to Sokoto if her family didn’t pay a ransom.
She just described how one of the Fulani kidnappers stole her NYSC outfit and put it on.
Rofiat was kidnapped while traveling from Edo State to Oyo State for her principal work.
Following multiple discussions, the abductors lowered their initial N20 million ransom demand to N5 million.\
On Saturday, Rofiat’s friend Agbakwara, who had alerted his Facebook page about her kidnapping, described how she was eventually set free after her family paid a ransom of N1.1 million to an account allegedly belonging to the family of another kidnapped victim.
In an exclusive interview with our journalist on Sunday, Rofiat described her incident, stating that the kidnappers had damaged the car she got into around the Ore section of the highway.
She revealed that six of the car’s ten passengers had been abducted and taken into a thicket along the freeway.
She further mentioned that all of the victims had valuables like cash and cell phones stolen, including her NYSC uniform, which was worn by one of the abductors.
The corper claimed that on the first day of their kidnapping, they hiked for seven hours before being given permission to relax.
She said, “On our way coming from Benin to Ore, they stopped our vehicle. I was sitting at the front and what I heard was gunshots. When I raised my head, I saw three people with guns in front of the vehicle and three people at the back. The driver tried to escape but he could not. So, they asked us to lie down and took six of us.
“They led us into the bush, searched us and collected our phones and money. Some of the victims were marketwomen and they collected all their money, which ranged from N600,000 to N1.2m and so on, but I was with N15,000, which they took from me. One of them took my NYSC uniform and wore it.
“After they collected our valuables, we trekked from 3 pm to 10 pm in the bush. During the day, they would ask us to sit somewhere in the forest and at night, they would ask us to start trekking. That was how we spent the four days with them.”
She described how, throughout the course of the four days of incarceration, other victims—mostly traders and elders—were repeatedly beaten.
In response to a question about whether she was harmed, she explained that, in contrast to what was done to others, they did not torture her; rather, one of the abductors promised to marry her and transport her to Sokoto State.
“One of them said he would marry me and take me to Sokoto if my family refused to pay ransom. I was less harassed, unlike the other victims who were older than me. I was the youngest among those of us who were kidnapped. They did not even know if I was a corps member or not, they were just concerned about the money they wanted to get from us.
“I don’t know the total ransom that the six of us kidnapped paid as ransom. Some paid N2m, N3m and so on, depending on how your family negotiated.”
Asked if they ate during the four days of captivity, she replied that the kidnappers were prepared with garri, which they gave to them on a few occasions.
“They carried a cooler with them which was stored with garri. That was what they gave us on a few occasions.
“They were prepared for the operation and it does not seem like that was their first time doing it.
She urged the NYSC authority to avail her of some period of rest considering the traumatic experience she had within the four days.
“The NYSC authority has reached out to me. The State Coordinator and my Local Government Inspector have called to check up on me. My appeal is that they should give me some days to rest and get medical attention because of the traumatic experience I had gone through for the four days.
“I do not regret participating in the NYSC because what will happen will happen. Others whom we were kidnapped together were not NYSC members,” she concluded.
She expressed gratitude to her family for paying the ransom and rescuing her.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0