Kidnapped

A new job and a new house in Lagos was all my family and I had ever wanted.   At last, our dreams had come true, it was our first night. The only cloud on the horizon was my having to travel back to Warri to round up a few things. I prepared as best as I could for the journey, reminding  myself of the over twenty police check points I would be meeting. They could be such a pain in the neck, making life as difficult as possible for the road users. Their rigorous and hostile inspection of vehicle particulars was more for their pockets than for Road Safety.  

As early as 5.30am I hit the road. All my car documents were intact and meticulously arranged. Needless to say, a journey of three hours to Orė (Aw’Reh) took me almost seven hours. I decided to take a short cut that would save almost a quarter of an hour. As I stepped on the speedometer to make up for lost time, I heard a hollow sound like a tyre or a balloon bursting. I checked my rear view mirror but saw nothing. I repeatedly heard the hollow sound and observed that the cars ahead of me were all slamming on their brakes. I didn’t have time to wonder before I saw four armed men before me with AK47s and machetes. They continued firing their guns into the air to let us know they meant business. Three cars ahead of me were trapped, with me bringing up the rear. There was a Mercedes Benz up front, two trucks in the middle and then me. For reasons best known to the first car, he made a wild swerve to the right in a bid to escape. It wasn’t a very smart move because that was the end of him.

It felt like I was dreaming, like a movie being played right before my eyes. This didn’t happen to normal people like me. It’s something you read about on WhatsApp and Face Book. As I was watching, I heard the leader speaking Hausa to the two truck drivers. After a few minutes, he ordered them to be released. To my horror, I was the only one left. My fear was palpable. I was ordered out of the car, hands raised, gun pointing at me and told to lie face down on the dirt. I was hoping they would steal whatever they wanted and let me go. I thought about my beautiful wife and children. I thought about my mother. I thought about the meaninglessness of a car or money when your life was at stake. As these thoughts were running through my mind, I heard the leader tell them in Hausa, “take this one inside, he has a family. They will pay for him.” My heart sank as I heard those words. They were kidnappers! The new menace on the Nigerian high ways. “Get up or I will shoot you” one of the men shouted at me in Hausa. Luckily I could understand, having lived in Kano for a few years. He wasn’t impressed or interested in my speaking his language. “Empty your pockets carefully” he ordered. He took took all my money and threw away the wallet not minding whatever was left in it. At that point, I was past caring. All I was thinking of was would I make it out alive? I had already seen them kill one person and I knew I wasn’t indispensable.“Oya, dey go inside now or I fire you” he said in his broken English. I instantly recognised his Fulani accent. The only reason I could tell the difference  was because I had spent some time in both Kano and Jigawa States. This afforded me the opportunity of living with the Hausas and also the Fulanis. My heart sank even deeper with that realisation. The Fulanis’ were the worst of the worst.

All of a sudden, we were marching through the forest. It suddenly dawned on me that I was barefooted. How that happened, I still don’t know. We trekked deeper and deeper into the forest with sporadic distant gun shots. It was obvious that it was a large operation. There were other groups “still at work” apart from ours. I was sandwiched between two escorts. They occasionally stopped to retrieve some concealed bags along the way. About one hour into our journey, we got to a clearing. I was asked to squat and to put my head on the ground. The leader demanded for the password to my phone which I gave without hesitation. He then asked me if I knew who they were. I answered in the negative. He said they were kidnappers and that only money could save me. The alternative would be a bullet in my head. He asked if I had any money and I said, yes. “How  much?” he asked. I replied that it could be seen in my bank account. He said he wasn’t interested in the account, “How  much?”  he asked again with much irritation. “Seventy Thousand Naira” I promptly replied. The next thing I felt was a heavy impact on my face. I wasn’t sure what hit me but it felt like a tree trunk. “You think we are ordinary kidnappers? Five Million Naira, one Naira no comot or else we shoot you”. I got the message and contemplated not saying anything further. I wasn’t sure if my silence would further offend him. I gently explained that I didn’t want to offend him with a “wrong” answer but the truth was that I didn’t have much money. The second accomplice who was going through my phone started asking questions about some photos he was seeing. He pointed to one with me standing near an expensive car and another with me in an impressive house. He concluded that I was a rich man but lying.

I was made to lie down on my belly with my face down for hours. They took it in turns watching over me. As the day went on, I heard voices approaching. It seemed like five additional men had joined the first two. Three of them stepped on my back as they walked past. From their accents, I could tell that the leader was a Hausa man, five Fulani and one from the Delta. It sounded like an Urhobo man. They all wore heavy duty boots, face caps and COVID 19 face masks. The leader asked for my name, my occupation and how much I had bought my car. I deliberately replied in Hausa hoping it would buy me some compassion. He asked me if I was from Northern Nigeria. I explained that I had learned a little Hausa during my NYSC. He said I needed to raise 50 million Naira for my release. He then instructed the Urhobo guy to act as a negotiator.

The first thing he warned me against was trying to escape. He said the people in the Mercedes Benz had all been shot because they had tried to escape. He said if I didn’t meet their demands, I would be next. He could, however, help me bring down the ransom to 30 million. I was handed back my phone to make a ransom call to my wife. Unfortunately, there was no network in the forest. I was given three men to escort me to various spots in search of wi-fi, but we weren’t successful. We returned to HQ and told the boss that we had been unsuccessful. “Hmmm, we will just have to kill him” he muttered very calmly. He went on to make a call to a lady with whom he was full of endearments for. He apologised for not seeing her the previous day because of “work” but that he would try to pop in that evening as soon as he closed.

As I laid there on the dirt I could hear some loud snores close by.  I could also hear some others whispering not too far away. Why did I choose to take a short cut? I should have just remained on the highway, it would have been an additional twelve  minutes only. Was I about to lose my life now because of twelve minutes? I was so afraid as I didn’t know how this was going to end. In a flash, I suddenly remembered a video clip I had watched of a preacher named Benson Idahosa. He said that in all his life, one prayer God had never failed to answer was when a man genuinely says “God help me.” I quietly said “God, please help me”. I said it a few times and just laid there helplessly.

By about 6pm there was a lot of commotion. I was ordered to get up in preparation to leave. The leader looked at me and simply said, “we will kill him” and then punched me furiously. He seemed upset that they were not able to make anything off me after all their hard work. I was ordered to carry all their bags which contained water bottles, ammunition, clothes and everything else. After about 30 minutes, I could hear the sound of cars in a distance. This gave me a lot of hope. As we walked, we got to a clearing in the midst of the forest. It was getting dark by now. They quickly had a meeting and five of them were to proceed to the road while two were assigned to walk back into the bush with me. I knew that this was the end; they were going to kill me. As we walked, they asked me to go ahead and then to get on my knees. One of the men had his machete and gun pointing at me. The other was saying an Islamic prayer. Immediately, I made up my mind to do something as I had nothing to lose.

I leapt up and dashed into the bush. My captor immediately gave chase and pursued me. Unfortunately, the foliage was too thick and I got trapped. I turned and saw him with his machete fully drawn and ready to strike. I caught it mid air and started struggling with him. We both fell down but I wouldn’t let go. I knew it was my life or his. He hit me on the head and called out for his mate. For whatever reason, his mate did not respond. He eventually overpowered me and started slashing me. I used my arms to protect my self as  best as I could. In his anger, he kept on  swinging the blade indiscriminately and he caught me every time. The blood was rushing all over as he finally hit my head and then my tibia bone. It seemed I had broken a leg  but he still didn’t stop. I managed to hold on to him and wouldn’t let go. This infuriated him even more as he struggled to free himself. “So you think you can fight me?” He barked at me. I begged and begged for my life. I explained to him that I ran because I was afraid and didn’t want to die. He ordered me to lie down flat on my face as he searched all over for his gun.

As I laid there, a million thoughts ran through my mind. I thought about  my wife and children. I remembered how the day started, the excitement of a new job and of a new house, my trip and the decision to take a short cut. The only thing I knew was that the end had come. I lifted up my head and it felt like the ground started spinning. I opened my mouth and started praying;

“Lord, thank you for bringing me to this point in my life where I know I am about to die. I have done all I can possibly do as a man, I have tried to escape and I have fought them. My arm, leg and head are badly injured and I know he will surely kill me when they return. I don’t know how it feels to die nor how the soul leaves the body. I don’t know what will happen to me after death but I ask you to forgive me my sins. I don’t want to miss heaven. I acknowledge you as my Lord and my Saviour and I commit my spirit into your hands. If you would ask me, I’d say I don’t want to die yet. I want to see my wife and children again. I know my wife is praying for me right now. Please Lord answer our prayers and allow me to live again. With you, all things are possible in Jesus name, Amen.”

It must have been about 8pm when I said my final prayer. By this time, my mouth was totally dry and I was extremely thirsty. I was later to find out that my body was going into shock due to the loss of blood. All of a sudden I could see flashes from torch lights and the leader calling out for me. They were searching for me in the thick foliage and the darkness wasn’t helping. I answered them in my weakened state. The leader let out a gasp as he saw me, “what happened?”. He was very upset seeing me that way and it gave me a bit of hope. I explained that I had tried to escape because I didn’t want to die and it had resulted in a fight with one of the other guys.  

My attacker suddenly appeared on the scene and gave an account of how I had tried to escape and how I had also fought him viciously. Once again, I started begging for my life and offered them all the money I had. The leader said they didn’t want anything from me any more as I had ruined all their plans. He asked me where the gun was. I told him I didn’t know. He asked me if I could walk. I assured him I could and gingerly tried to raise myself up. Almost immediately I collapsed to the ground. “If you can’t walk then we would have no other choice but to kill you.” Once again, I reassured him I could walk. I tried my best but was still unable to stand up. He picked up a sturdy stick, trimmed it with his machete and handed it to me as a walking stick. I gratefully received it and for the third time tried to get up. I fell awkwardly on my side. “You can’t make it. We won’t kill you but we’ll leave you here to die.” I told them not to worry about me, I would take care of myself somehow. He agreed and they left me.

I couldn’t believe I was still alive. Still lying face up on my back I was able to remove my shirt and tie it as a bandage across my head. I also removed my trousers to bind up the wounds on my thigh. I was left with just my boxers on. After catching my breath for about ten minutes, I began my long crawl towards the clearing we had come from. I knew the main road wasn’t too far from there. It was a slow painful crawl on all fours. After about an hour, I got to the clearing. I began to feel a bit hopeful. Maybe I will make it out live, I contemplated. As I got into the open space on all fours, I saw a gun pointing in  my face and loud hysterical laughter. My captors were still there and the one that fought me cocked his gun ready to fire. “..but you said you wouldn’t kill me!” I shouted. I subconsciously steeled myself for the gun shot. I was so sure this was going to be the end. “No body go shoot you” the leader replied in his broken English. He spoke authoritatively to the other guy and asked him to put away his gun. He asked me if I knew my way. I told him I would find it somehow. He then gave me directions on where to go and where to avoid. I thanked him.

As they walked away, I continued crawling. The sound of cars driving past got louder. At this point I had to untie the trouser and abandon it because it kept hooking the brush and slowing me down. The pain was becoming unbearable. I had to focus on the hope of seeing my family to keep me going . By about 9pm, I got to the main road. My hand touched the tar. There were a lot of heavy duty trucks driving past at high speed. I was crouched by the side of the road and needed to catch their attention. I felt the best option would be to take off my boxers and wave it as a flag. This meant being totally naked by the side of the road. I waved as frantically as I could but no one stopped. It didn’t occur to me what I was probably looking like. After some more futile effort, I decided to get some sleep.

It was impossible to fall asleep with the noise of the cars and the cold drought as they passed. At a point, I saw some headlights coming dangerously close to me and realised a truck was overtaking another truck. I would have been crushed to death if not that the adrenaline kicked in and I rolled out of the way. I don’t know where the strength came from but I found myself in the opposite direction, not minding the searing pains. After surviving seven kidnappers, it would be such a shame to die by the side of the road like an animal. I eventually drifted off into a sleep of exhaustion, my body was almost giving up.

I woke up by about 6am with the sun rising. I could see the traffic passing by and the drivers looking at me in disbelief. No one in their right mind would stop for a pitiful  sight like me except maybe a Military personnel. I immediately prayed, “Please Lord send a military escort to find me”. Two minutes after my prayer, a military truck was passing and I waved my shorts at them. They stopped a few metres away and five heavily armed soldiers came towards me suspiciously. “Who are you?” the leader asked. I introduced myself and told him he could find me on Face Book. I also explained that I had been kidnapped the day before. He asked if anyone could corroborate  my story. I gave him my wifes’ mobile number and he called her. She confirmed my identity and my story. They were able to arrange an ambulance for me to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital where I was immediately admitted. The doctor said I had suffered a broken tibia and a broken left meta carpal bone (google it). I also had some deep cuts which have since  been  stitched. As I type this story with one hand, I give praise and glory to the Most High God who heard my cry and rescued me. My name is Mark Amechi Emmanuel.

 
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