One of the recent kidnap victims of the Abuja-Kaduna expressway has revealed the trauma and the heart-melting experiences they underwent in the hands of their dreaded kidnappers.
He made a shocking revelation on what caused the instant death of two kidnap victims they were abducted together.
The victim, whose name was avoided due to security reasons, told BBC Hausa Service that two of the kidnapped passengers were killed for admitting that they had nobody to pay their ransom.
“I was traveling to Kaduna and we left Zuba garage on a commercial car. On reaching Katari (town), we met the kidnappers; 7 of them. They stopped us and chased us into the tick of the bush. We trekked from 1pm until 3am.
“We don’t know where they kept us in the bush, because I have never been to a tick of a bush like that. We were very tired, and were fasting. We did not eat until 2am. I had a wristwatch and I checked the time when they brought us a bread and mineral. It was 2am,” he said.
Asked on what they did to them upon reaching the destination, he said “They instantly killed 2 people because they had nobody to pay their ransoms.
“They later divided themselves into two: some of the them took three people elsewhere, while two of us were taken by the other group to another location.
“They did not tell us anything and I don’t know what they did with others. Only God knows whether they are still alive or dead. I symphatise with their situation in view of what we went through: whether they are free now or still with them.
“They had other kidnapped people in their custody. But we did not see them. They were the ones who told us about them. And the ringleader’s phone was persistently being called by the relatives of the people. Their leader even put the phone on speaker for us to hear their conversations.”
On the identity of the kidnappers, he said “None of them masked his face. They were Fulani. Although they rubbed some colour on their faces, even that washed away later and we saw their real faces. They wore army uniforms and held sophisticated guns. AKs.
“At first when they waved for us to stop, we thought they were soldiers on a routine security checks. But as we moved closer, it dawned on us that they were not the real army. We notice their shoes were robber shoes, normally worn by Fulanis.”
“He bemoaned how the road drastically turned to a nightmare for travelers, soon after being the most secured road in the country due to the constant passage of air travelers to and from Abuja.
“Abuja-Kaduna road used to be safe especially when the Abuja airport relocated to Kaduna. We traveled safely to go and visit our parents, but as soon as the airport revert back to Abuja, the all security personnel disappeared mysteriously, leaving the masses vulnerable to all sorts of calamities,” he added.