Ngozi Stephen and Joshua Daniel, two of the 16 kidnap victims freed in Kogi State, have shared details of their nearly 48-hour ordeal in captivity.

The victims were abducted on Sunday when armed criminals attacked commuters along the Ojuwo–Ajengo–Memarebo and Ojiwo–Itobe roads in Ofu Local Government Area. 

They were rescued on Monday during a joint security operation involving the Nigerian Army, Navy, police, and local vigilantes along the Ajaokuta-Anyigba road.

One local hunter was killed and a police officer injured during the rescue. Six of the rescued are male adults, six female, and four children. 

They are undergoing documentation, medical checks, and reunification with their families.Speaking at the Kogi State Police Command headquarters after their release, Ngozi said the abductors made her act as an interpreter because of her fluent Hausa. 

She relayed the kidnappers’ varying ransom demands to the other victims.“So they told me, tell this person N50 million, tell this person N100 million, tell this person N70 million. 

That was how they were sharing it,” she recalled. “So I would tell them, okay, this is what they said, this is the amount they said you should bring.

“Even me, they said N70 million. So even when I tried to plead and ask them to reduce it a little, they threatened to beat me up because they were beating people and all that.”

Ngozi said the kidnappers did not beat her, likely because of her role as interpreter, but confiscated the victims’ phones and switched them off. They returned the devices only when they wanted the captives to call relatives for ransom.

“At some point, they were even threatening that if we were not able to provide the money, they would just sell us to ritualists and all that,” she said.

She added that the abductors fled as soon as they heard gunshots from security operatives, abandoning a bag containing the phones and laptops seized from the victims. 

“We were able to get back our phones. We were also able to get back the laptops. Thank God. We are now safe.”

Joshua Daniel said he was injured while trying to escape shortly after the abduction. He ran into a nearby bush but was chased by one of the kidnappers, who tried to cut him with a knife. 

Daniel raised his hand to shield himself and suffered a cut to his vein.“That is when the cutlass landed here and cut my vein. So, I was bleeding throughout the night,” he said. 

“But the bleeding stopped this morning when I got some herbs and put them on the wound before the bleeding stopped.”

Daniel said one of the abductors identified himself as Peter. The captors spoke Igala, Fulani, and Hausa so the victims could not understand their discussions. 

Despite his injury, Daniel helped carry the wounded police officer from the hideout to the main road for evacuation.

He expressed gratitude to the security operatives for the rescue and condoled with the family of the local hunter who died during the operation.  

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