A 42-year-old woman, Mrs. Sarah Chinedu, who was abducted three weeks ago and rescued from Ogboinbiri forest in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, has recounted her ordeal in the kidnappers’ den.
Mrs. Chinedu, an indigene of Ebonyi State, was rescued by operatives of the Violent Crime Response Unit, VCRU, led by CSP Chris Nwaogbo.
Narrating her experience, the victim said she was beaten by her captors for praying with someone on the phone instead of asking for ransom as ordered.
She said, “They did not touch me nor beat me. They only beat me when someone was praying for me, praying with me, because they wanted to hear money from them.
“They were praying with me. Then they said, why did I pray? Why would they pray with me?”
Mrs. Chinedu recalled that the kidnappers stormed her foam shop in Amassoma under the pretext of buying foam and pointed a gun at her before whisking her away.
“When they came, they picked me up from my shop to somewhere I did not know. There were two of them. The experience was like three days to one month.
“The place was very terrible, very, very terrible. Although they did not touch me, it was very terrible for me,” she said.
She said her abductors offered her food but she could not eat.
“They were giving me food but I refused to eat because where I was, I was not happy. They said they wanted to buy something from my shop.
“As I entered inside, they brought out a gun, left my daughter and one woman that was with me and carried me away. They said there was a police checkpoint ahead. They dropped me inside a boat, from one boat to another, to a place I did not know,” she said.
She added, “That day, four of them carried me, but inside the boat, I did not know how many of them were there because I could not see anybody again. I thank Almighty God and you people that rescued me.”
On the ransom demand, Mrs. Chinedu said the kidnappers initially demanded N100 million, insisting her husband had money, but later reduced it to N20 million.
“First, they said I should pay N100 million. I told them I do not have money. They said I should shut up, that my husband has money.
“According to how they were pressuring me, I was begging them to free me for N5 million. They said no, that N20 million was the last.
“They later told me that my husband had already paid N1.8 million because of pressure from my people, but they still said I must ask for more before they would free me,” she explained.
Mrs. Chinedu expressed gratitude to the Nigeria Police for rescuing her.
“Today, I thank the Nigeria Police. May God continue to strengthen and guide them. May God provide all that they need. That is my prayer for them.
“They did not touch me. They only beat me when someone was praying with me. They hit me and later came back to tell me sorry. That is the only thing they did to me,” she said.
