A member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Rofiat Lawal, recently shared chilling details of her abduction along the Benin-Ore Expressway.
The incident occurred last Tuesday as she traveled from Edo State to her assigned post in Oyo State.
According to Rofiat, her captors demanded a hefty ransom and threatened to forcibly marry her and relocate her to Sokoto if her family failed to comply.
In a startling revelation, she disclosed that one of her abductors, identified as Fulani, took her NYSC uniform and wore it during the ordeal.
The abduction took place when the vehicle Rofiat was traveling in was ambushed near the Ore section of the expressway.
Speaking exclusively to PUNCH on Sunday, she recounted how the kidnappers intercepted the vehicle, abducting six out of its ten passengers.
The group was then forced into a nearby forest, where the assailants confiscated their belongings, including cash, mobile phones, and her NYSC uniform.
Initially, the kidnappers demanded N20 million for her release. After prolonged negotiations, they lowered their demand to N5 million. A friend of Rofiat, Agbakwara, first brought attention to her plight through a Facebook post.
He later confirmed that her family secured her freedom on Saturday after paying N1.1 million into an account allegedly linked to the family of another victim.
Describing her harrowing experience, Rofiat explained that the captives were made to trek through the bush for seven hours on the first day before being permitted a brief rest.
She said, “On our way coming from Benin to Ore, they stopped our vehicle. I was sitting at the front and what I heard was gunshots. When I raised my head, I saw three people with guns in front of the vehicle and three people at the back. The driver tried to escape but he could not. So, they asked us to lie down and took six of us.
“They led us into the bush, searched us and collected our phones and money. Some of the victims were marketwomen and they collected all their money, which ranged from N600,000 to N1.2m and so on, but I was with N15,000, which they took from me. One of them took my NYSC uniform and wore it.
“After they collected our valuables, we trekked from 3 pm to 10 pm in the bush. During the day, they would ask us to sit somewhere in the forest and at night, they would ask us to start trekking. That was how we spent the four days with them.
“One of them said he would marry me and take me to Sokoto if my family refused to pay ransom. I was less harassed, unlike the other victims who were older than me. I was the youngest among those of us who were kidnapped. They did not even know if I was a corps member or not, they were just concerned about the money they wanted to get from us.
“I don’t know the total ransom that the six of us kidnapped paid as ransom. Some paid N2m, N3m and so on, depending on how your family negotiated.”
Asked if they ate during the four days of captivity, she replied that the kidnappers were prepared with garri, which they gave to them on a few occasions.
“They carried a cooler with them which was stored with garri. That was what they gave us on a few occasions.
“They were prepared for the operation and it does not seem like that was their first time doing it.
She urged the NYSC authority to avail her of some period of rest considering the traumatic experience she had within the four days.
“The NYSC authority has reached out to me. The State Coordinator and my Local Government Inspector have called to check up on me. My appeal is that they should give me some days to rest and get medical attention because of the traumatic experience I had gone through for the four days.
“I do not regret participating in the NYSC because what will happen will happen. Others whom we were kidnapped together were not NYSC members,” she concluded.
She thanked her family for raising the ransom and getting her out of captivity.
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