A female traveller, Lucy Jeremiah, who was abducted by a nine-man kidnap gang in Plateau State, has narrated how she fought the gunmen to escape from the bush where she was held captive.
It was learnt that the kidnappers abducted Jeremiah and three other victims while they were travelling in a vehicle to Jos, Plateau State, from Abuja on Thursday.
The victim, who was still in trauma, told PUNCH Metro in Jos on Monday at the Plateau State Police Command Headquarters where she was recuperating, that she handed her life over to God before she summoned the courage to fight the kidnappers.
She said, “What happened was that we were coming back from Abuja to Jos in a vehicle last Thursday. On getting to the Government Science School, Kuru, in the Jos South LGA of Plateau State, around 6pm, though I was sleeping in the vehicle, I woke up when the vehicle suddenly stopped. When I woke up, I saw a man wielding a gun. He opened the door and said we should give him our phones.
“He collected all our phones and money. He thereafter selected four of us in the vehicle and marched us into the bush. The kidnappers, numbering nine, asked us to call our parents on phone and demanded N5m each. After we made the calls, they took us farther into the bush and out of the four persons, I was the only female among them.”
The victim said as they went deep into the bush, she suggested to others an escape plan, but they were afraid.
She said, “They said they could not do anything because they were not with any weapon to fight the kidnappers, who were with a gun, a knife and other weapons.
“By this time, some of the kidnappers, who were initially nine, had left, leaving four of them with us.
“As we marched deeper into the bush, two of the four kidnappers were trailing behind, while two others with the gun and knife were leading us in front.
“At this time, I told my co-traveller victims that we should do something and that I will not follow the kidnappers any farther into the bush to wherever they were taking us to and that God would be in control. I also told them what to do as I suggested to them that I would be the first person to grab the kidnapper carrying the gun while they should come to my assistance if anything happened and that was what I did.
“So, when I grabbed the kidnapper with the gun, the other kidnapper holding a knife rushed forward and wanted to stab me in the stomach. But as I turned, he missed his target ….”
The victim could not continue the interview as she broke down in tears.
However, the spokesman for the Plateau State Police Command, Alabo Alfred, confirmed the incident, adding that the other victims, who were rescued by the police alongside the lady, had been taken to a hospital for treatment.
He said, “We have four victims that were rescued and it happened somewhere in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State on December 15. A team of police detectives traced them to Kassa Forest in the Barkin Ladi LGA, where they came in contact with the kidnap victims, including Lucy Jeremiah and three others. She (Jeremiah) was found unconscious with deep cuts in her leg and the other victims were taken to the hospital for treatment. We are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the perpetrators are apprehended.”
