Released after 64 days in captivity, one of the six students of Lagos Model College, Igbonla, Epe, yesterday, narrated their horrifying experience in kidnappers’ den.
According to him, they were held in three camps at different times.
The boy, who spoke anonymously because the released students had allegedly been asked not to speak to journalists by security agents, said they were beaten by their captors and starved of food because their parents refused to pay the ransom they (kidnappers) demanded.
The students, abducted on May 25 after some gunmen stormed their school, had been released to security agents in Ondo State on Friday. They were brought to Lagos, yesterday, and received by the state Deputy Governor, Dr (Mrs) Oluranti Adebule.
Later yesterday, the students were handed over to their parents after undergoing treatment at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).
Some of the parents, however, said they would take their children to other hospitals for more treatment, even as they expressed appreciation to Lagos State government for picking the bills for the boys’ treatment at LASUTH.
One of the parents who allowed her son to speak with Sunday Vanguard before taking him to a private hospital in Ajah, insisted his story must be told on strict condition of anonymity, adding that they were under instruction from security agents not to speak to journalists on their kidnapping.
Narrating his story, the boy said: “We were taken away in speed boats on the day the kidnappers struck.
“They told us not to play smart by attempting to put up any struggle, saying it would lead to our death. We sailed for close to two hours before we reached a camp made of woods. We met another group of people at the camp eating and drinking. One of them was directed to take our parents telephone numbers, after they announced to us that we had been kidnapped.
“We spent two days at the camp before we were relocated. Nobody could tell the exact time they relocated us because it was dark”.
The boy explained that at the second camp, three of them were allowed to speak with their parents.
“At a point, we lost count of the number of days we had spent in captivity.
“By this time, they started beating us. We were also starved of food because they said our parents were not cooperating with them and that they had run out of food stuff.
‘’Whenever they beat us, one of them would caution them to stop, that we were not responsible for the delay in payment. One day, we overheard them saying that some of their members had been arrested. They became furious and blamed the cause on our parents’ delay to pay. This was when they became brutal. We feared the worst could happen.
‘’I fasted and prayed fervently for God’s intervention during my stay with them.
“Again, like the first time, one of them woke us, while sleeping, to go into a boat. This time around, they took us on a journey that took several hours before we got to the third camp. None of us knew where we were. Sometimes they would threaten us that we were at a point of no return, if the money they needed was not brought.
“Ironically, it was at this camp that we were well fed. At times they gave us pounded yam and Egusi soup, jollof rice and noodles. According to him, on the day they were released, the kidnapped boys had thought they were being relocated again.
“Even when the security agents that came to pick us arrived, we thought they were another group of captors because some of our captors also wore uniforms,”he said.
“I am happy to be back home”.
The father of one of the freed boys, who also requested not to be identified, while thanking God for the release of the six students, lamented that his son and the other boys experienced psychological trauma.
He said: “We thank God for everything. He is the only child we have. The boy is now with us. He was released to us yesterday. I will say that it is only God that helped us find them, despite that we paid a ransom. I cannot disclose the amount we paid but we all paid as much as we could afford. Some people also supported us while the payment system lasted,” he said.
When asked if he would allow his son go back to the school, he replied: “That is impossible. Go back? I would have to look for another school for him. I have not questioned him as to what they faced particularly because I think he is still undergoing some psychological trauma at the moment. The kids were exposed to what is too big for them.”
To secure the release of the six boys, the parents reportedly paid N37 million as ransom to the abductors who kept demanding for more money. It took the combined effort of the Federal and Lagos, Ondo and Ogun state governments, the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) and Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Lagos State Police Command, to facilitate the release of the boys.
It was also gathered that their final release was a culmination of underground work by the police operatives who were deployed to help in the rescue of the boys.
