A National Youth Service Corps member, Rofiat Lawal, who was abducted along the Benin-Ore Expressway last Tuesday, has disclosed that her abductors threatened to force her into marriage and take her to Sokoto if her family refused to pay a ransom. Punch reports.
This is just as she narrated that one of the abductors, who are Fulani, took her NYSC uniform and wore it.
PUNCH Metro reports that Rofiat was abducted on her way to her place of primary assignment in Oyo State while coming from Edo State.
The abductors initially demanded a ransom of N20m but after several negotiations, they reduced it to N5m.
A friend of Rofiat, identified as Agbakwara, who raised the alarm about her abduction on his Facebook page, had on Saturday narrated how she was eventually freed after her family paid a ransom of N1.1m to an account purportedly belonging to a family of another kidnapped victim.
Narrating her experience in an exclusive interview with our correspondent on Sunday, Rofiat noted that the kidnappers waylaid the vehicle she boarded along the Ore area of the expressway.
She disclosed that out of the 10 passengers in the vehicle, six of them were kidnapped and led into a bush along the expressway.
She added that valuable items such as money and mobile phones were taken from all the victims, including her NYSC uniform, which one of the kidnappers wore.
The corper said they trekked for seven hours on the first day they were abducted before they were allowed to rest.
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 narrated that other victims, who were mostly elders and traders, were beaten on several occasions during the four days of captivity.
When asked if she was hurt, she narrated that they did not torture her compared to what was done to others, but one of the kidnappers threatened to force her into marriage and take 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 thanked her family for raising the ransom and getting her out of captivity.
