From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The University of Abuja (UniAbuja) lecturers who were kidnapped last week alongside some of their family members have returned safely with the story of their horrible experiences in the den of their abductors.
The lecturers alongside some of their family members were taken away by bandits, who invaded the staff quarters of the University located along the Abuja-Lokoja Expressway last week, and was later said to have demanded N300 million ransom before the abductees would be released.
After few days with the kidnappers, they were released. Vice-Chancellor of school, Prof. AbdulRasheed Na’Allah, in his statement posted on the school Facebook page, confirmed that the lecturers and their family members were rescued through the help of the police and other security agents.
The statement reads: “My dear university community. Our prayers have been accepted. Please, join me in thanking God Almighty. Just to let you know that our University of Abuja family is a happier family today with the resolution of this callous and wicked kidnap of our people.
“Our brilliant and indefatigable safety unit and security outfit must be commended. They are deserving of superior award. We are grateful to the team along with the military, the police, the DSS and all who laboured to make this happen. Our traditional rulers in FCT stood by us and prayed for us and we are grateful to all of them.”
Meanwhile, the victims, in their different accounts shared with the in-house news platform of the university and published in their Facebook account indicated that they were tortured, manhandled, starved and suffered other inhumane treatments.
Starting with the Deputy Registrar, Malam Sambo Mohammed, who in his account of the horrible experience said: “It was a very painful experience, I must confess to you. These bandits took us on journey through the bushes for several hours. Some times, they would hit you hard where you never expected, kicked and shouted at you.
“We walked several kilometres in the bushes, crossing streams and rivers, and found ourselves where we never imagined. The experience could best be described as the height of man’s inhumanity to man.
“At a point, they threatened to kill us if they did not get the ransom they asked for. I thanked Allah that we are free at last without any severe harm nor any ransom paid.”
He, equally, thanked the security operatives who, he said, worked closely with the school safety officers, Governing Council Chairman, Prof. Ahmed Modibbo Mohammed, Vice-Chancellor of the School, and every other person who showed concern and care during the travails.
On that same fateful day, Prof. Sumaila Obansa was kidnapped alongside his two children by the gunmen, but one of sons was released for unknown reasons.
Narrating the story, Obansa, a Professor of Economics, said: “They made us walk over a long stretch, day and night. When it’s day time, they blindfolded us. They didn’t allow us to eat anything, except once or twice that they fed us with garri using unclean water.
“On one occasion, I couldn’t move again having trekked for a long time, they kicked and threatened to waste me if I didn’t stand up. My son had to help me up. It was a very terrible and tortuous experience. I had never trekked continuously for that long in my life. I won’t even wish this experience for my worst enemy.
“I just had to be praying to God for protection. Thank God, our prayers and those of everyone who cared were answered. And God used our leaders in the university, security operatives and other well wishers to ensured that we are safe at last.”
Another victim, Dr. Tobins Ferguson Hamilton, said he had gone into hiding when the gunmen got access into his house at the university staff quarters on that fateful Tuesday.
He said they suspected he was up in the roof, hence they started shooting sporadically. Scared that he could be killed by the gunmen’s bullets he surrendered and came down.
He added: “That was how they started beating me mercilessly. I was only on my knickers when they matched me out for us to begin the very long journey into the forest, crossing rivers and bushes for several hours.
“Throughout the night, they did not blindfold us, but the moment it was day, they blindfolded us, perhaps, so that we could neither see nor identified any of them. In the day time, they left us at a corn field and were still keeping surveillance on us.
“My leg was swollen, because I had never been made to walk like that before in my life. The terror, the horror was of unimaginable proportion. Suddenly, we started noticing that they had started to communicate and negotiate with our contacts. We were left with the only option to pray that whatever it was, may God make it end well.
“Thank God, we are back home safely without very serious injuries. When I was taken to the hospital after we were rescued, the results of some of my tests were scary. But with immediate treatment, I began to get better. This was not an experience I will forget in a hurry. You know what I mean, a situation you were faced with a set of criminally minded people who were having live ammunition, and you knew that if anything had gone wrong, they could just had pumped the bullets into your head, and that would be all.”
He commended the steadfastness of the university authority, the security agents and everyone who stood by them against the evil attack on harmless and Innocent academics.
Similarly, Prof. Bassey Ubom, one of the victims of the attack, said he was fast enough to escape when the gunmen stormed his house at the university staff quarters. And when he returned, he was confronted with the stark reality of the gunmen’s unwanted visit, that they had left with his wife (who was later released), but they left with his nine-year-old son and daughter.
He said: “It’s not an experience you would wish for your worst enemy. I have never been so humiliated in my life. And it was painful knowing that you are here (at home) and your loved ones are in the forest with criminal elements.
“At a point I thought, may be, I shouldn’t have escaped from them. But with the benefit of hindsight, I now know that God had a hand in my escape because I had to be here to rally others whose loved ones were kidnapped, consoling them and above all, getting involved in high level negotiation with those elements, who were asking for outrageous money as ransom.
“The experience we went through in the hands of those abductors can only be better imagined. To be so humiliated, and yet helpless is pathetic. What my kids went through was to say the least callous and inhuman.
“I mean for a nine year old boy to be subjected to that kind of physical and psychological assault was evil. But our people worked, prayed, and we are grateful that God has answered us.”
He thanked all the security operatives who jointly helped to rescue the abductees, and also the school management, governing council chairman, the chief safety officer of the university, friends, colleagues and well wishers who showed concern during their trying time.