By Ayuba Iliya
A resident of the Federal Capital Territory, Rima Lotu (not real name), who was kidnapped between Bwari and Dutse Market in Bwari Area Council has narrated her bitter experience in the hands of her abductors.
She recalled how the abductors butchered a secondary school student, with whom she was abducted, in her presence.
The victim narrated to our correspondent that she had boarded a green-coloured taxi from Bwari to Dutse Market in mid November, unknown to her, it was a “one-chance” vehicle.
“When we entered the vehicle, because the road was under construction, the place was so dusty, so the man (driver) was like, we want to pass the new road. We said okay, no problem, and that was how the car windows were wound up,” she explained.
Lotu said when the boy and herself were picked at the junction, they met three people in the vehicle, a woman and two men.
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“One of the men beside the driver dropped at a junction, and then the driver asked that the woman from the back seat move to the front passenger seat for comfort,” she added.
She said at that moment, she suspected the woman sprayed a sedative substance at the back seat, causing them to fall sleep.
Lotu said she became suspicious when she started feeling uncomfortable and asked the driver to wind down but he pretended to be busy chatting with the woman in the front passenger seat.
“By this time, the schoolboy and another student picked up from Veritas University had all slept,” she said.
She narrated that she had planned to raise the alarm at a checkpoint ahead of them but on getting to the checkpoint, there was no one there.
“After we passed Ushafa, that was the last thing I can remember. It took prayers and donations from friends and family to secure my release after ransom was paid.
“Some people are still there waiting to be slaughtered. That place is like a camp. They even prefer to butcher people and sell (body parts) because they feel that it would give them more money than ransom,” she said.
Recalling how the school boy was killed, she said, “Each time I close my eyes, I see that scene. They killed him, they cut him like meat, since his people could not provide money.”
According to Rima, when the kidnappers contacted the boy’s parents, the mother said she did not have money and didn’t believe her son was abducted as she had spoken to him earlier.
He was said to be returning home from the boarding school to treat an illness.
According to a recent media report, at least 12 people were reportedly killed and 139 others abducted when bandits and robbers attacked some communities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the last six months.
From April to September, available statistics show that not less than 22 communities, cutting across the six Area Councils, were attacked with the victims paying a total of N126 million as ransom.
