Victims of the Benue Links kidnapping last Wednesday, including candidates for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, have talked about their time in captivity, saying they were tortured, hungry, and treated in ways that were not human.
It was known that the victims were kidnapped along the Taraku–Otukpo road in the Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State while on their way to different events, such as the UTME.
After about four days of being held captive by the kidnappers, the passengers were finally free on Sunday after security pressure.
Governor Hyacinth Alia, who met them at the Government House in Makurdi, said that eight of the victims were UTME candidates and the rest were regular commuters.
Gbenda Daniels, an 18-year-old victim, told reporters how the kidnappers took his money and put him in terrible conditions.
“They took my ₦8,000. He said, “They beat us, and we didn’t eat anything; we only drank dirty water.”
Ngukulan Iornav, another victim who was also a UTME candidate, said that the kidnappers didn’t feed them well.
“They gave us salt and garri.” She said, “I was completely beaten.”
Orih Raphael Sylvester, a medical student at the University of Maiduguri, said that the victims were moved around the forest several times to avoid being seen.
He went on to say, “They took us into the bush and moved us around. We didn’t eat anything the first night because we were always moving.
“On the second day, we lived on muddy water. They gave us garri on the third day and beat us while we called our families.
He also said that the kidnappers stepped up their demands for ransom on the fourth day. Sylvester said that the kidnappers later led them to safety as security forces got closer.
“Early on Sunday, around 4 am, they finally told us how to get to the express road, where we later saw soldiers. “It was a terrible experience,” he said.
Sunday Augustine, a student at the Federal University of Lafia, is another victim who said he got hurt during the incident.
Akor Jessica also said the experience was traumatic.
“It was a nightmare. We went through too much. We were going to take our tests. “They hit me with big sticks and machetes whenever they wanted, but God helped us,” she said.
Family Pays Ransom to Get Out
Daily Trust says that a family member of two of the victims, Ochadgwuba Alexander, said that the kidnappers wanted ₦10 million for each victim.
He said, “I personally brought ₦3.4 million in cash and supplies to the kidnappers in the bush.”
He also said that he later called the military to help get the victims to safety after they were freed.
