How We Were Rescued By Military… Abducted 15 Corpers

A rescued National Youth Service Corps member, David Ayodele, has recounted how he and other abductees were allegedly threatened with death by their captors after they were taken into a forest in Kogi State.

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Ayodele said the kidnappers threatened to keep the victims in captivity for one month and kill them, while warning them against moving without permission.

He said the victims were forced into the bush after their vehicle was intercepted while travelling from Bayelsa State to Abuja following their relocation from the NYSC orientation camp.

Recounting the incident after the rescue, Ayodele said the driver attempted to escape when the kidnappers emerged, but the group was eventually forced out of the vehicle.

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“Driver tried to escape, but he said, Who’s the driver? Who’s the driver? And I held the driver, then they opened the door, and they started leading us to the bush while they were shooting, you know, rounds of bullets in the air,” he said.

He said the victims were subjected to physical abuse as they were taken into the forest.

“Then we made our way to the bush with flogging and kicking and shouting and stuff,” he said.

According to Ayodele, the kidnappers later threatened to keep the victims in the forest for a month before killing them.

“We reached one kind of bushy area; they asked us to sit down, they asked us who would drink water, that we would be here for one month, so they would kill all of us,” he recounted.

He described the threats as frightening, saying the victims remained cautious throughout their captivity.

“They warned us that if anybody moved without permission that they will shoot the person, so none of us really attempted to move because of fear and stuff,” he said.

Ayodele said the victims were forced to walk for a long distance through the forest before their eventual rescue.

“So we moved a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot and then thank God the Nigerian Army came to meet us,” he said.

He commended the security agencies involved in the rescue operation, including the military, police, Department of State Services and local hunters.

Ayodele disclosed that he had completed his NYSC orientation at the Bayelsa camp and was travelling to Abuja after being relocated when the incident occurred.

“I did my orientation camp in Bayelsa camp,” he said.

He explained that organised vehicles were taking corps members to different states when he joined a vehicle heading to Abuja.

“So, on our way from Bayelsa, because we did relocation back to Abuja, so we were going to Abuja from Bayelsa camp. There were organised vehicles going to different states, so luckily we saw an Abuja vehicle,” he said.

The corps member was among 15 NYSC members and six other Nigerians rescued from kidnappers’ den in Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State.