Rescued kidnap victims, including candidates of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), on Sunday recounted their harrowing experiences of torture, hunger and inhumane treatment during four days in captivity. The victims were abducted on Wednesday along the Taraku–Otukpo road in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State during an attack on a Benue Links vehicle conveying passengers. They were eventually rescued on Sunday morning by security operatives following sustained pressure mounted on the kidnappers.

Governor Hyacinth Alia, who received the victims at the Government House in Makurdi, confirmed that eight of them were UTME candidates, while the others were regular commuters caught in the attack. 2025: Army gets 7% disbursement for security equipment Nigerians pay N84.36bn for meters in 2025 The rescued victims were identified as Augustine Sunday Okechalo, Emmanuel Okechalo, Elaigwu Joshua, Hyacinth Okoh, Wende Paul, Nyikwagh Benjamin Aondokator, Iornav Ngukulan, Gbile Ngutor Daniel, Akor Jessica, Buter Agatha, Ukaha Tersoo John, Orih Raphael Sylvester, Kim Timothy and Simon Friday. An 18-year-old victim, Gbenda Daniels, who was on his way to sit for the UTME at the time of the incident, said the kidnappers dispossessed him of his N8,000 and subjected them to severe beating while denying them food.

“They collected my N8,000. They beat us, and we didn’t eat anything; we only drank dirty water,” he said. Another UTME candidate, Ngukulan Iornav, also 18, said they were given only garri and salt throughout their stay in the forest.

“They gave us garri and salt. I was thoroughly beaten,” she said. Orih Raphael Sylvester, a medical student who had just completed his final examinations at the University of Maiduguri and was returning home to Otukpo before the incident, narrated how the ordeal began.

He said all the passengers boarded the vehicle at the motor park and departed at about 6 pm, arriving at Taraku around 8:26 pm, due to mechanical faults thatslowed the vehicle before the attack occurred. He said the kidnappers moved them repeatedly from one location to another deep inside the forest to avoid detection. “We were taken into the bush and moved from one place to another.

We didn’t eat anything on the first night because we were constantly on the move. “On the second day, we survived on muddy water. On the third day, they gave us garri and forced us to start calling our families while beating us,” he recounted.

He further disclosed that on the fourth day, the abductors intensified pressure on the victims to raise ransom, moving them to another part of the forest where they were ordered to urgently contact their relatives as security operatives reportedly closed in on them. Sylvester said the victims were beaten at random, particularly those whose families could not immediately meet the ransom demands, adding that a glimmer of hope emerged on Saturday evening when they were again asked to press their families for payment. “We were later brought together in another location, given our phones and instructed to make more calls for our release.

“Early Sunday, around 4am, they eventually gave us directions to follow towards the express road, where we later encountered military personnel. It was a horrible experience. We eventually came out around Okete,” he added.

Another victim, Sunday Augustine, a 100-level accounting student of the Federal University of Lafia, said he was returning from school when the incident occurred. He said they were severely beaten, leaving him with an injury on his elbow. Similarly, Akor Jessica described the experience as deeply traumatic, saying they endured extreme torture in the hands of their captors.

“It was a nightmare. What we went through was too much. We were on our way to write our exams. They beat me with big sticks and machetes at will, but God saw us through,” she said.

A relative, Ochadgwuba Alexander, said two of the victims—Emmanuel and Austin—are his cousins, who were among those kidnapped. He described the experience as traumatic for the entire family. “It was a nightmare for us.

The kidnappers demanded N10 million for each victim,” he said. He explained that he personally delivered a ransom of N3.4 million in cash, along with supplies valued at about N33,000, including Amstel Malt drinks and Hollandia yoghurt, to the kidnappers in the bush. “After handing over the ransom, I contacted the military to help convey them from the point they emerged from the bush.

I waited for about 40 minutes at Okete village before they were brought out,” Alexander added. Alia urges JAMB to reschedule exams for 8 victims Governor Alia on Sunday appealed to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to allow the rescued kidnap victims who missed their examinations to sit for them, following their release from captivity. Alia made the appeal at a joint press conference at Government House in Makurdi, where the State Police Commissioner, CP Ifeanyi Enemari, h