‘Our escape from kidnappers’ den’

Victor

Ebere

Juliana Francis

A woman has narrated how she and a male church member were kidnapped around the Ogbemudia farm, Edo State and their mysterious escape from the kidnappers.

The woman, Mrs. Chioma Victor and her church member, Mr. Ebere Ezike revealed how they were tortured by the kidnappers, who used cigarette stubs to burn all over Ebere’s body and how they repeatedly flogged Victor. They however claimed that they would never had been able to escape from their abductors, who were demanding N6 million ransom, if not because, they saw, ‘a pillar of light,’ which strangely aided their escape.

According to Victor, a teacher, the kidnapping happened on July 14, 2013, while they were returning from a church member’s father’s burial, which took place at Delta State.

They spent four days in the kidnappers’ den, but it was four days of hell and fear.

Recollecting their ordeal, Ebere said: “They tortured us, so that we would call whoever we know to come and pay the ransom.  They tied me up and used stick to cross in between the knots of the rope.  Two among them sat on me and started making phone calls.  They sat on me for over an hour.  They used cigarettes to burn all over my body.  At a point, when the negotiation was not going as they wanted, two among them picked canes and started flogging me.  They wanted me to call other people, but I didn’t have anybody to call. They used the butts of their guns to hit me repeatedly on my head.”

Even Victor feared that she would be raped. She said: “Yes, I was flogged, but they didn’t burn me with cigarettes sticks. On one of the midnights when I woke up, I wanted to do midnight prayer, I felt a manhood, pressing against my back.  I told God, that this should not happen. Since I lost my husband, something like that had never happened, and if it most happens, why with little children? The oldest there couldn’t be more than 30.  And to add insult to injury, children whom I’m not even sure used to bath.

“After praying, I encouraged myself and pushed the body away.  As I was feeling the manhood at my back, their boss was half naked. After I prayed and pushed the body against mine away, the boss also turned and moved away from my front. I give God the glory that something like that did not happen.”

They duo said they left the village they went for the burial, early in the morning, in order to reach Lagos State on time. They went in a jeep and Honda Accord cars. The General Overseers wife was in the Honda Accord. The Honda Accord was supposed to be in the front, with the jeep, following closely behind. But at the Benin-by pass, the Honda Accord stopped, for the occupants buy banana, thus allowing the jeep to speed past it.

Victor said: “As we were in their front, we didn’t know they stopped to buy plantain. Getting to Ogbomudia farm, which was exactly the place the kidnap took place, we saw a man, dressed police uniform, holding a double barrel gun. He ordered our driver to park.

“I was already asking Ebere, if he thought the man looked like a policeman. We drove closer. We didn’t know there were others hiding. Immediately we neared the man, he opened fire, shooting sporadically at the jeep, but thank God the car was bullet proof.

“Immediately he opened fire, four men hiding in the bush ran out, wielding guns. They surrounded the car. Ebere wanted to reverse, but those from the bush were already behind the car, all holding guns. The one in policeman uniform reached for my Ebere and took him away.

“Another one ordered me cross the expressway. After I crossed the road, he started beating me. He said I should run into the bush. I ran into the bush. After we had walked for quite a distance, I realized it was not a robbery as I had earlier suspected. They started asking me who owns the vehicle. I told him that it was the brother that was driving it.

“They said maybe I was mother and owner of the vehicle, I said no. I told them that Ebere owns the vehicle. I told them that we were returning from a burial. They asked me who sent us for the burial, I said the church. At a point, they started flogging and hitting me with the butt of their guns. One of them asked me if I didn’t know that they were acting on information.

“It dawned on me that somebody gave them information concerning us. He asked who was in the black Honda Accord, I said our pastor’s wife. He was angry; he asked why the Jeep was in front, instead of the Honda.

“I told them why. They started beating me again and we ran for a long time, deep into the thick forest. When I got to their camp, I saw my brother, Ebere there. He didn’t know that I was also kidnapped. We thought they took other people in the jeep, but we later heard that those were not kidnapped. They were only dispossessed of their valuables.”

Victor recollected that in the four days they spent in the forest, the five kidnappers never maintained a particular camp. They just keep moving camp each day. “Once its morning time, we would move camp again. Throughout the time they kidnapped us, I didn’t m not eat. They requested a ransom of N6m for both of us to be released.”

She revealed that she could not eat the food they offered her, because she was on a particular drug and she must take the drugs before meal. But in the process of dragging her from the Jeep, her medicine fell. After she explained to the kidnappers, they went to search for the medicine, but could not locate where it fell.

Victor and Ebere were ordered to call anyone who would them and would pay for their ransom. They both mentioned their pastor.

“They used my phone to call the pastor. They beat us incessantly. They threatened us. They even said they would transfer us to their headquarters in Benin, where people used to come to buy parts of whole human being for ritual.

“If they’re happy, they would discuss with us, if they are not, they would start beating us. There was a point they put fire on my hair. They made me to speak with the pastor as they were putting the fire on my hair.

“There was a day they made me to sit inside the rain for four hours. Usually when it’s raining, we stay under trees. But on that day, they collected the wrapper which I had been using to cover myself.”

While their pastor and church members were fasting, praying and running from pillar to post to raise the ransom, Victor said she had a vision, which as far as she was concerned, showed that God was going to save them.

“On Monday night, I had a vision. Before the vision, our kidnappers had already started hearing mysterious footsteps. In the vision I saw two men. One stood afar off, another came closer. The one that came closer told the kidnappers that he meant them no harm, but was only looking for his lost sheep. They told him that he could see that there was not sheep there, but only human beings. I had another vision, where the two men came back and asked me and Ebere to hold our hands together. One of them held my hand, while the other held Ebere’s hand. The men had wings. They later flew away. It was like a trance. I was awake. I used to have visions. It’s a gift. I wanted to tell Ebere my visions, but we were not allowed to communicate.

“I only told him that God was about to do something. In the night, while they were going round to check for another group of kidnappers, a pillar of light appeared in the camp and passed. I didn’t even know that brother Ebere noticed the light. That was on Tuesday night. We were supposed to be released that Tuesday night, but our people who went to the bank, were not able to meet up. The kidnappers told us to tell our people to hold on until early Wednesday morning.

“On that Wednesday morning, they woke me at about 4: am and asked me to pray for them. I prayed. I equally asked God to grant them repentant hearts, to stop kidnapping.

“We left that camp at about 4am. We missed the way three times, until finally we came out at a power line. Power line goes to Warri. All of a sudden, a light appeared. I thought a big vehicle was coming. Then the light ceased. We started walking again. Suddenly, the light appeared again. And whenever this light comes, the ray will be everywhere.

“We walked for a long time, and the ray of the light appeared again. Whenever the light flashed, the kidnappers would all run to hide. Nobody was sure where the light was coming from. They were even thinking that it was the police after them.

“We walked for a long time until I became very weak because I didn’t eat throughout my stay at the kidnappers’ camp.

“At a point, they even started helping me to walk. We were trying to reach where our church people will meet them to hand over the ransom money. Suddenly, the light came again. This time, it was very bright. It was almost as if the light was upon us. The kidnappers knew there was nothing to do except run back into the thick forest. We all run back into the forest. They ordered that there should be no breakage of sticks or stepping on sticks to avoid noise.

“The light appeared like it was passing by us, but when it got to the particular point where we took to run back into the forest, it stopped. Then the light appeared to be advancing towards where we were all hiding. It came  close to us and just hung there. Two of the kidnappers were in front and three at the back. We didn’t know what was carrying the light. The two in the front moved away, the three behind corked their guns, to attack whatever was carrying or was with the light.

“As the kidnappers attempted to move away from the light, since they were not sure what it was, we moved with them. Barely minutes that they moved and we moved with them, God separated us from them. We didn’t see them with us anymore. We walked for about three poles and decided to wait for them.

“We waited for a long time, but we didn’t see them. We didn’t even hear any gun shot. Then we heard those two that were formerly in our front, calling out to those three behind us. There was no response from the other three. At a point, I told Ebere that we should alert them, to let them know our location. He said no. He reminded me that we had been praying since for God to intervene, that God had finally intervened.

“Instead of them coming towards our direction, they kept moving further inside. The next time we heard their voices, it was coming from far off. Still, there was no response from the other three. Ebere said that we should move.  I told him that I couldn’t walk any longer. I had become too weak.

“He said no, I must keep walking. We started moving. Again I stopped walking. I told Ebere that any other steps, might lead to my slumping. He held and prayed for me. God restored my strength. We started moving again. We reached an already cleared farm, waiting to be cultivated.  Ebere was in the front. I became worried. I called and told him that in case the kidnappers came back, we should tell them that we were looking for them, so that they wouldn’t kill us.

“As we were going, we saw a building inside the bush. It was fenced all round.  Ebere was heading towards the building, but I stopped him. I told him that the building might be the kidnappers’ hideout. He came back and we took another route. We finally got to the highway. When we got to the road, he asked me to wait, so that he would first check the road. When we saw that there was nobody, we came out.

 “We started begging motorists to give us lift.  The second vehicle we saw was a police van.  We begged them, but they didn’t even listen or bothered to stop.  We saw a Celestial Church bus. We waved and begged, but they too didn’t stop. That was how we continued to wave and beg, but no bus stopped. Ebere then realized that we were facing Onitsha road.  He said that we should cross to the other side.  We crossed and continued waving and begging all the vehicles that were driving past. It got to a point, that when a vehicle is coming, we would kneel down to start begging. But still, nobody cared to stop. But to God be the glory, a man that was driving a trailer, drove past. He drove far, but suddenly stopped.

“He later told us that God told him that we had been in trouble. He reversed and came back to us. He ordered his conductor to call us. My brother looked back and saw that the trailer was coming back.

“Ebere started running towards them.  When the man asked was what the matter, we begged him to first please first take us away from point. That was how we left that area.  The man was a god sent. The man was a Muslim. He was fasting. When others refused to assist us, even the Celestial Church bus, he stopped for us.

“He was so good to the extent that he called his wife and asked her to prepare food for us.  He bought slippers for us because we’ve lost our foot wears. He wanted to bring us down to Lagos, but already our pastor had told us where to wait at Ore before he sent someone to come and pick us.”

Ebere on the other hand, recollected in vivid details, the torture meted out to them.

His words: “At the kidnappers’ camp, we became friendly with one of them called Monday. They said we should not, under any condition look at their faces. But Monday told us that we should not be afraid of him, that we could look at his face if we wanted.

“Monday told me that he lost his parents when he was just seven years old.  As an adult, he took to riding Okada to survive, but government soon banned Okada. Somebody later bought hire purchased tricycle for him, but government also later banned tricycle.  That was one of the reasons that made him to take to kidnapping. I told him that was not an excuse. I told him that if he was sure he wanted to leave kidnapping as a job, God will provide a job for him.

“He told me that he knew that the job was 50-50, that if government or police get them, they will be killed.  He was the one that told us that they have a boss at Warri.  On Tuesday, he asked to pray well, that their boss was contemplating allowing the woman (Victor) to go, while they should bring me to Warri. He was the one who also told me that if we move further from the point we were camped, there is a river there. He said there was a flying boat inside that river. That the flying boat was what they used to come to that side and that after their work, they would use the flying boat to go back to Warri.

“When we saw that light for the first time, I thought it was a hunter. In that forest, once its 6pm or 7pm, everywhere will become dark. On that Monday, I saw the position of where everyone was sleeping and I wanted to escape, since I knew where to step. When I got up to escape, something told me that I should not leave my sister (Victor) behind. Had it been it was only me they kidnapped, I would have escaped that night.  The area, where the kidnappers camped us, was a place police can never locate!  It was just too far.  When we were kidnapped, those with us in the car, went to Okada Police Station to complain. We heard that police came with seven vehicles. They searched everywhere but couldn’t locate us. I was not surprised!

“The first day, I was scared of snakes like python. On Monday, about 12:30, it started raining heavily. It soaked everyone, including them. I asked myself if they were really human beings, subjecting themselves to such sufferings. I wondered how they endured so much in that forest. In the night, they would gather sticks to make fire. They don’t use match sticks, instead they use cigarette lighters.

“Monday told us that they were born to cold weather because they are from Niger Delta. He said that they could stay in the forest, in the rain,  for months and nothing would happened to them. He said that the highest they could do to keep warm, was to smoke and take alcohol. There was someone they used to call to bring food for them on their handsets. We would hear them instructing the person on what to buy. They have a particular place they used to go to collect the food.

 “We stayed in their camp for four days and it was only once they gave us food. It was only on Monday they gave us food, though my sister didn’t eat. She didn’t eat because of her health.  Due to her health issue, she usually used to take her drugs before eating.  There was no medicine with her. They threw her medicine away. When they realised how important the medicine was, they went to look for it, but couldn’t find it.

“They ate every day. But their major food seems to be smoking.   According to what they told us, there are many kidnappers inside the forest. I told them once that I wanted to urinate, they said I could go. But when I started moving, one of them said it was okay, that I should stop there. Another one said; ‘leave him, if he go there, its river he would fall into.’ It was a thick bush. One of them told me that if I go further, I could fall into the hands of another sets of kidnappers.

“That was how we knew that they have other groups in that forest. Till now, I’m still shocked over what happened that day we escaped. I’m still in shock. I still couldn’t believe it. All I know is that the kidnappers saw a pillar of light and started running. I knew that we would leave that kidnappers’ camp alive, but how God would do it, was what I didn’t know.  One of our church members was supposed to bring the money on the day we escaped. I kept thinking that once the brother comes with the money, they might also kidnap him after collecting the ransom from him.  The kidnapper, called Monday, who had become close to us, said we should tell the church member coming with the money to bring my vehicle. I asked why?  He said for security purpose. He said was because of our appearance. If you had seen the way we looked, you would have stopped us on the road if you had been a policeman.

“He said that if the man comes with the vehicle, that immediately they released us, we should just enter the vehicle.  One of our brothers, whom they used to communicate with, told them I was not the owner of the vehicle. They said they were not interested in vehicles that they work on cash. I remembered that after we concluded on the ransom amount, I asked them why they couldn’t send their account numbers, so that the ransom would be paid into it, they laughed.  They said that if they wanted to go and cash the money, police would arrest them. They said they don’t work in that way.”

 Reverend Chukwuman George John, General Overseer of The Way, The Truth, The Life Tabernacle, located at Caaso area of Alagbado, Lagos State. Incidentally, John’s wife was the woman in the Honda Accord, whom the kidnappers were actually meant to kidnap. He was also part of the three persons, who negotiated for the ransom.

He said: “I travelled to Ogun State, when Grace and Truth Church had their 40^th anniversary. I came back on Sunday very early. While I was trying to get ready for the day’s service, I got a call. By nature, no matter what happened, I must go and preach the word of God. I didn’t want people to know exactly what happened or the people involved. So that people don’t get pulled off from the service, I told them there were two of our brethrens, a sister and brother, whom the Devil had arrested. I told them that whether police or kidnappers or whatever, we have to pray. I was about to say the grace after preaching, when God moved me. God said that we should not leave, that we should go into prayer. I told the church and we went into prayers.

God said they would not die but will come out alive. I used two major scriptures of the bible that day. Act of the apostles, talking about Paul and Silas and when Peter was locked up. I said that as the pillar of light, which was God himself, went into the prison to bring out Peter, so also will God go and bring out these people.

“This would be a testimony. We embarked on fasting and prayer.  As for myself, I went on dry fasting. I told God that I will neither drink nor eat until they return. I said I will not shave and bath until they come back safe. I stopped going to my room and started sleeping at the altar, praying to God that my children should come back safe.

“The kidnappers called on Monday and started negotiating with us. They demanded for N6m. I told my people that we have prayed and it is settled. But if for any reason, God wanted us to part with any money, then it must be very little money.

“I told my people that anybody the kidnappers called, for negotiation, should direct them to three of us. Myself and two other people in the church. There was a day they called for further negotiations, I was under anointing and shouted at them.  Most time, when they call to speak with me, they will give phone to my children and start beating them. I kept telling the kidnappers that they would not kill my children. They would come back alive.

“One day I told them that they didn’t know the man of God they were dealing with. I told them to allow my children to go. I told them to repent and give their lives to God. There was a time they said; ‘pastor pray for us.’ I told them that I would pray for them, but they should behave themselves.

“We finally struck a deal. We were supposed to send the money on Tuesday. We went to the bank, but the bank delayed before the money was cashed. That made us to change our decision. We decided to go on Wednesday.  If that person had gone that Tuesday, the kidnappers would have collected the money.

“On Wednesday, the money was given to the person who would hand it over to them. The agreement we had with them, was that the person should switch off his phone until he gets to Okada area.

“Then he would put on the phone, so that they would start directing him where to meet them.  On that morning, we were supposed to have an early morning programme. My phone rang and as usual, they were using my daughter’s phone to call. But to my surprise, it was the voice of my son, Ebere. He said Daddy! Daddy! Praise thy Lord. I said Alleluia! The ‘Praise thy Lord’ was too much. This was a man who used to cry every day that they were torturing him, now it’s ‘Praise thy Lord’. I kept answering Alleluia until he told me that they had escaped from the kidnappers.

“He said they were on their way to Ore. I shouted. I picked my phone, and as God would have it, the person that was supposed to go and meet the kidnappers to give them the money, forgot to put off his phone as instructed by the kidnappers. If not for that, they would have held and killed him out of anger.

“I phoned him and he picked his call.  I told him to alight from the bus and come back home. I told not to go further, for they had escaped and were on their way back. We didn’t spend a dime! They came back and started telling us about the pillar of light.  I have forgiven those men. I wish they would come forward and give their lives to God. I tell you, on the day they said ‘pastor pray for us’ my heart melted and started bleeding. I didn’t see them as enemies. By my nature, the moment someone embraces God, the person becomes like my biological child.”