How I was released after N350,000 ransom – 23-year-old kidnap victim

Odey Regina Olayemi, a 23-year-old kidnapped victim, said her community raised N350,000 for her abductors after she was kidnapped for seven days at the Ago-Oyinbo village in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State.

Ms Oluyemi, spoke on Monday, at the head office of the Ondo State Security Network Agency, otherwise known as Amotekun Corps, during the parade of some suspects before journalists in Akure.

She revealed that her abductors seized her while on her way to the farm and kept her inside the thick forest in the kidnappers’ den.

“I was in the village to help my sisters before our resumption date to get some funds back to school but on that fateful day, we were at the farm and suddenly, we saw three Fulani men heading our way.

“I told my sisters that I’m going to run but they said I shouldn’t go anywhere and that they are not going to do anything. When they got to us, they asked us to kneel. We obeyed.

“At that moment, we started begging them. Two of them were with guns and the third one was with cutlass. They asked me to start following them and they picked a cassava stick and began to beat me,” Ms Olayemi.

The kidnapped victim, who described her ordeal at the hand of her abductors as horrific, explained that the sum of N350,000 was paid for her ransom before she was released from captivity.

She noted that the kidnappers had earlier asked for her family numbers to demand ransom but she could not immediately remember her father’s contact due to the trauma.

“I spent seven days with them and they asked for my dad’s mobile number but I did not know it off-hand. I have lost my memory because of the tension.

“But when I gave them my number, they began to call my phone. It rang but nobody picked it up. Later, one of my sisters that came from Akure to our village picked up the call and she was informed that I’d been kidnapped and I’m with them.

“It was my sister that went to report before the Amotekun swung into action and the community had raised N350,000 before I was released following a manhunt from the Corps.”

Adetunji Adeleye, the Amotekun Corps commander in Ondo state, revealed that the victim was rescued following an “aggressive manhunt” on the suspected kidnappers.

Mr Adeleye, who explained how the operatives of the corps had to ‘cross the river’ through a heavy forest to apprehend the suspects, said some of his men were attacked in the line of rescuing the victim.

“We had to cross the river before we were able to arrest them (kidnappers) and we were equally attacked by the fully armed suspects.

“We found out that these criminals live in our forests along Ala-Dada, Jugbere, up to Ijagba and we were able to comb the forests,” he added.

“Some of these criminals engage in feedings victims, charging their phones, and a lot of other things that they do,” he said.

According to him, some other victims who the kidnappers abducted were rescued by the operatives of the Amotekun Corps.

He noted that many of the victims had gone through hell at the hands of their abductors, stressing that the security agency would not rest on its oars to flush out the criminal elements sabotaging the efforts of the government.

“We invited the victims who had been kidnapped in the past three to four months in the state. They were able to identify many of the suspects here and the resurgence of kidnapping within the state made us go deep to the forests to fish out these suspects,” Mr Adeleye added.

He, however, solicited the support and cooperation of the members of the public, especially in the areas of information to nib crime in the bud in the state.

“Also, we will strive to ensure that Ondo state remains very safe, there is no cause for alarm.”