Former Minister of State for Education, Senator Iyabo Anisulowo, in an interview with newsmen, revealed her ordeal in the hands of abductors. Excerpts:

WHAT did go to farm to do on the day you were abducted?
It rained the day before, and so I thought that it would be good to go and plant maize on the farm, because the soil would have been softened.

It was reported that when you were abducted by the four-man gang wielding guns and sword, they took you away on an okada, using a hood to cover your head?
That was true. They put me on their motorcycle. They used a cloth to cover my face, but I told them that I could no longer see. They then used the farm cap I put on to cover my face.

Don’t you think these people may have been trailing you for some time?
The kingpin of the gang told me that they had been trailing for about two months before they finally succeeded in abducting me.

Did they tell you the reason you were kidnapped?
Yes, the kingpin said they heard that I am very rich. They said they were told I had houses in London, Lagos, Abuja and Ogun State. They even said I had foreign account. But I told them I don’t have any house in Lagos and that I don’t have any foreign account. They told me I was a former senator and a former minister, and they wanted to share out of my wealth.
But I told them I was a minister over 20 years ago and did not loot the treasury, and that I represented Ogun West Senatorial District at the Senate between 2003 and 2007. I told them I am now a farmer.

What was the first ransom they demanded from you, and what was your response?
First, they demanded N100 million ransom and I told them I don’t have huge sum of money. They started threatening me, that they would hold me for long, if I don’t provide the ransom. They even suggested to me that, as a former senator, I should call the current senators in the Senate, that they should contribute N1 million each, and then call members of the House of Representatives to also give N500,000 each. They said the total would be more than N100m.
When they heard that the governor of Ogun State showed interest in my case, they now raised it to N200m.

Did you or your family give them any ransom?
Though the kidnappers were checking my phone and asking me whether I don’t have anyone who they could call to pay the ransom, until I gained my freedom, we did not pay any ransom.

Where were you kept throughout the one-week ordeal?
I was kept in the forest throughout and at every point, three of the kidnappers were keeping watch over me. One was armed with gun and another one with knife, and the other one was responsible for going to buy me water.

In your first interview at the Government House on Tuesday night, you said you did not eat there but drank only water. Why did you choose to go only on water?
I was the one who refused to take the food offered me. They brought amala in nylon, they brought eba. But since I did not know how they prepared them, I refused to eat them. I only demanded water, and they were buying two bottles of Eva water for me everyday. That was what I survived on.

The day you were kidnapped, could you recognise the location you were taken to?
Though it was inside the forest, I could recognise that it was Igan Okoto, then later to Aiyetoro, later Obada Idieme in Imeko Afon Local Government, before I was moved to Gbegbinlawo in Abeokuta North.
As the security were closing in on them, they kept moving me from one place to the other. There was a day I was moved four times. They were moving me on a motorcycle. At times, we would be four on the motorcycle.

Were you given mat to sleep on in the forest?
Nobody gave me any mat. I slept on leaves and palm fronds were used as my pillow. I was exposed to the harsh weather.
When the first night rain fell, it drenched me, and if it is the sun, it came directly on me.
In the night, I didn’t normally sleep because those keeping watch over me would be smoking weed (Indian hemp) and the smoke would cover everywhere.

Did you ever think you will be rescued alive while in captivity?
I knew I would not die there because I reminded God to remember the role I played in the creation of the two Yewa Local Governments (South and North), and I was held captive within the local government areas. And God did hear my prayer.

Did you sustain any injury during your abduction?
Yes, I got injured on the motorcycle, the hot silencer gave a burn on my right leg. There was a time myself and my captors fell on the motorcycle, because the terrain was a thick forest, full of trees.
At times, I would hear songs from a church close to where we were, but nobody could imagine someone could be in the thick bush nearby. At times, it would be call to prayers from a mosque. It was a harrowing experience. I would spend eight hours on ground, eight hours standing and use another eight hours to pray.

How were you rescued?
Perhaps my abductors knew the game was up, so that day they did not buy me the two bottled water they usually give me daily. The pressure from the security agents -federal, state and the vigilante- was too much for them. So they brought me out, and they led me to the road and told me how I would find my way to Gbegbinlawo village. That was how I walked to the village. I went to the palace of the traditional ruler there. It was there the wife gave me the clothes that I wore to the Government House.

 

Source: Nigerian Tribune