A victim of kidnap from Bassa in Shiroro council of Niger State, Rufai Galadima, yesterday relived his 29 agonising days with kidnappers.
Galadima, a final year HND student of Regional Planning at the Niger State Polytechnic, Zungeru, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the experience was harrowing.
“When we got to their forest camp in Gwanda in Chukuba area of Shiroro they tied me to a tree and beat me to force my family to bring money,” he said.
The victim said before they got to the forest camp the suspects stole two fowls from a family compound which they used to prepare their meal at the camp.
“Many of the bandits in the camp ate the food and left me to stay hungry throughout the first night,” he said, adding that in the camp there were more than 20 young girls used as sex slaves.
“They did not allow the girls to go anywhere; they only cooked for them and had intimacy with them. I also noticed that the ladies were not allowed to have their bath”.
Galadima said that they were fed twice a day with stolen yams, and that kidnappers had AK-47, AK-49 rifles, pump action guns, rocket-propelled guns, machetes and machine guns, among other weapons.
“They even boasted about shooting down a helicopter in Shiroro.
“They told me that they got their weapons from Cameroon, Niger Republic, Sokoto and Zamfara states.”
He said that when the kidnappers made contact with his family, they initially demanded for N5 million but finally took N1.3 million after his family sold their properties.