By OLUMIDE FRANCIS

A kidnap victim has taken to social media to narrate how she was allegedly abducted and sexually abused by some gunmen during her travel to Rivers State.

The woman, with the Twitter handle @Blessedcindy0, claimed that she was kidnapped along with five others on June 23, 2021.

She posted the thread with a picture of her battered face, saying she was admitted to a hospital after the ordeal.

According to her, she boarded a vehicle at a park in Enugu without any premonition of evil.

She said the last thing she recalled was that while sending a text to her sister, she felt “something cold on my nose and dozed off.”

“When I woke up, the six of us were tied to a chair in a bungalow. I immediately knew I had been kidnapped. There was this guy sitting down with a gun looking at us without saying a word until one huge looking man came out of the bungalow and started telling us to pray. He first gave us a hot slap; after that, he told us that we had been kidnapped and that we should not be afraid that as soon as our relatives cooperated with them, nothing’s going to happen to us,” she added.

The social media user said her sister sold some property and borrowed money to pay the ransom of N2m demanded by the kidnappers.

According to her, the gunmen warned her sister not to inform any security agency because neither the police nor the military could do anything about the situation.

She claimed to have watched as two of the six victims were killed because their families could not meet the demands, adding that three other victims were released after paying N2m each.

She said, “The name of one of us was Philip. When he asked him who to call to demand ransom, Philip said he doesn’t have anyone to call and that he is just a normal businessman trying to make ends meet.

“When they called my sister, they instructed her not to tell the police or army and that there’s nothing they can do (that was when I knew my own was finished); they told my sister that she’ll pay N3,000,000 or she won’t see me again.

“My father is not too strong, so my sister had to keep everything away from my father. Two people were killed right in front of me (Philip and one other girl) because they couldn’t meet up with their demands and the other three people were released after the payment of N2,000,000 ransom each.

“They didn’t kill me because my sister was picking up calls even after a week and cooperating with them. My sister had to sell some things and borrow up to pay N2,000,000. Even at that, from the 26 June 2021, every night they beat me and I was raped by two of them.”

The survivor said she was dropped off at night at Four Corners Junction near Agbani in the Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State.

She said she was admitted to a hospital, adding that she was traumatised by the experience and the execution of two of the victims.

“I can’t take Philip and that girl they killed off my head. They killed and cut them into pieces. Where they kept us, I can still recognise how the place looks like. When they wanted to drop me after my sister paid, they met the police on their way and the police didn’t bother to look inside the car. They just let them through. Oh my goodness God! They also took everything I had left in my account, which was about N268,000. Nigeria has failed me. I sleep and wake up with this traumatic experience and feel like committing suicide,” she added.

Efforts by PUNCH Metro to speak to the victim and ascertain her condition were abortive, as she did not respond to a message from our correspondent.

The Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer, Daniel Ndukwe, said he could only comment on the case after getting details of the kidnap.

He said, “Where in Enugu did the incident happen? Let’s know the name of the person, where it happened and the date and time. It will help. When you get this information, please send it to me.

(Courtesy, The PUNCH)

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