Six Months After Release By Kidnappers:University Lecturer Recounts Ordeal
“It was like, the end time has come. My family and I went through a very difficult experience. We went without food for days and prayed fervently for God’s intervention.”
These were the comments of a University Lecturer in Ondo State, Mrs Oluwatoyin Ayimoro, yesterday, at a Thanksgiving Service organised for her and her family to commemorate their release by kidnappers, six months ago.
It would be recalled that Mrs Ayimoro and her family members were kidnapped about four months ago, while returning to Ondo State, from Abuja, where they had gone to visit a relation.
The University Lecturer, who spoke in an emotionally laden voice, revealed how they were ambushed by four men, in camouflage army uniforms and ordered into a forest, like soldiers undergoing regimental training.
“When we got to a place around Obajana in Kogi State, these armed stern-looking men, surfaced from a forest as we were negotiating a bend, pointing their guns at us as they asked us to look face down,” she said.
She explained further”Initially we thought they were military men on patrol, not until one of them told us, we have been kidnapped. It was then, my husband and I realized we were in serious trouble”
Mrs Ayimoro explained that she was asked to source for N5m ransom, adding “but Lord I serve touched their hearts, as later collected N2m from us. Let the congregation shout thunderous hallelujah that we are still alive to see today”
“I was taken out of the forest with my face tied with a blue cloth so that I would not be able to trace the place. I did not have any money on me. I told the driver of the vehicle I took, about our travail and agreed to assist me” she added with anxiety showing on her face.
“They warned me not to report our ordeal in their hands, with security operatives, warning that if I do, they will come after me and my family ” she posited, saying that the ransom was taken to them, at a location by one of her brothers, while the release of her family members in their custody, was also effected.
Mrs Ayimoro however explained with regrets that the kidnappers are now accusing her of revealing what transpired between them, to the security agent, adding that the kidnappers, through letters, told her to be ready for their onslaught.
“We are currently living in fear and anxiety for an offence we did not commit. We now move from one destination to another, as we fear, the unexpected could happen” the Lecturer noted.
