By Chiangi Avese, Makurdi
Eighteen victims abducted along the Adoka-Uboju axis of Benue State have regained their freedom after about N8 million ransom was paid, alongside foodstuff and groceries worth more than N500,000.
The victims were released on Thursday night in a forest along the Otukpo-Ogobia Road, near the Benue-Kogi boundary, according to Simon Igidi, husband of one of the abductees.
Igidi, who went to the forest to pick up the victims, said they arrived in Makurdi around midnight and were immediately taken to hospital for medical attention after spending six days in captivity.
He said an elderly woman among the abductees was released separately on Friday, the day the group was kidnapped, but did not return home to Tyomu until Monday evening
According to him, the remaining 17 victims were released after the ransom was paid. They comprised eight women from Tyomu, three persons from Vandeikya and seven others from Wurukum in Makurdi.
“We are grateful that they have finally returned alive. They were taken into the bush and went through a very difficult experience. Some of them need medical attention and psychological support,” Igidi said.
One of the victims, Mrs Linda Ingyough, said the abductees were held in a rocky forest terrain and fed only with dry garri, while four litres of muddy water was provided for them to share each day.
“It was so traumatising. We thought we were going to die of hunger as we were given dry garri to munch once a day. Thank God we survived after six days in captivity, enduring merciless flogging from the bandits. Now we are back home,” she said.
The victims were reportedly travelling to Ankpa, Kogi State, for a burial when their vehicle was attacked shortly after Adoka on Friday, September 25.
The abductors initially demanded N30 million for each victim but the ransom was eventually negotiated to N8 million for all the hostages.
The abduction triggered tension in Tyomu and neighbouring communities, with residents blocking the busy Makurdi-Gboko Road on Tuesday to demand urgent government and security intervention.
Security and government officials later appealed to the protesters to reopen the highway, while the police said efforts were ongoing to locate and rescue the victims.
However, Samuel Iortim, husband of another victim, criticised what he described as the slow response of the state government and security agencies, saying the abduction had been reported to the appropriate authorities since Saturday morning.
Following the victims’ release, PureBioTech Nigeria Limited donated N1 million to support their rehabilitation.
Alhaji Abdulkadir Mohammed, who presented the money to representatives of the Tyomu community at the company’s premises yesterday, said the gesture was part of the company’s corporate social responsibility.
Mohammed said PureBioTech, an ethanol-producing company, considered the welfare and humanitarian needs of residents in its host and neighbouring communities important.
“We take the humanitarian needs of our people seriously. This support is part of our responsibility to the community and our commitment to standing with people at difficult moments,” he said.
The Chairman of Makurdi Local Government Area, Hon. Joseph Keffi, who visited the Tyomu community following the incident, also donated N1.5 million to support the victims.
