A 23-year-old lady, Regina Odey, who spent seven days in kidnappers’ den, yesterday, recounted her ordeal in captivity. Odey was abducted by four armed men while working on a family farm at Ago-Oyinbo village in Akure North Local Council of Ondo State. The victim, who described her torment as horrific, revealed that N350, 000 ransom was paid for her release.

Speaking at the Amotekun Corps headquarters in Akure, the victim said: “My father and mother were in the town, when I went to the village to help my sisters to make money before school resumed.

“We were at the farm on that fateful day when suddenly, we saw three herders coming towards us. I told my sisters that these people are coming to our side and that I’m going to run, but they said that I should not go anywhere because they were not going to do anything to us.

“When they got to us, they asked us to kneel down, and we did. At that moment, we started begging them. Two of them were with guns, while the third person was with a cutlass. They asked me to stand up and start following them. They took a cassava stick and started beating me as we were going.

“I spent seven days with them; they asked for my father’s telephone number, but I told them that I did not know it off-hand because I have already lost my memory. I later told them I did not have parents again, that they had died. I also told them that I came to the village to help my sisters, so that I could get money to return to school.

“But they said it was a lie, that they knew everything about my family, and I later gave them my number because I was not with my phone on that day. Immediately after I gave them my number, they started calling the phone, but nobody picked it up. Later, one of my sisters who came from Akure to our village picked the call, and they informed her that they had kidnapped me.

“It was my sister who now went to the Amotekun office to report before they swung into action to rescue me, and I thank God that they rescued me.”
Speaking, Amotekun Corps Commander, Adetunji Adeleye, who disclosed how the Corps rescued the young lady, said they had to cross the river before they were able to arrest the suspects.

“We were equally attacked by the herders. We also found out that these criminals live in our forests, along Ala-Dada, Jugbere, up to Ijagba, and we were able to comb the forests.

“About 29 people have been arrested for their involvement in various criminal activities in the state,” he said. Adeleye added: “The resurgence of kidnapping within the state made us go deep into forests to fish out these kidnappers. We have a total of 29 criminals, and about 20 of them are suspected kidnappers.

“We also invited all those who came to complain that they had been kidnapped in the last three to four months in the state, and they were able to identify most of them.”