Man reveals how teenagers kidnapped him on Lagos-Ibadan Long Bridge

A 24-year-old photographer, Olabode Adekunle, shares with GODFREY GEORGE his experience in the hands of kidnappers who abducted him along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway after his vehicle had a flat tyre 

What is your name?

My name is Olabode Adekunle. I live in Magboro, Ogun State. I am 24 years old. I am a photographer.

There was a report that you were kidnapped along the Long Bridge stretch of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Is this true?

Yes, this is very true. I was kidnapped by Fulani men along the bridge, very close to the Mikano factory on Tuesday (September 6, 2022). It happened around 3.45am or so that morning.

What were you doing out that early in the morning?

My brother, who was travelling abroad, and I were trying to beat the traffic. You know how terrible the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway has been these past months. If one had to arrive at the airport at 7am, one had to leave before 4am. It is terrible. So, I was the one driving one of the cars. Another brother of mine was driving another, in which my brother who was travelling was.

What happened then?

Everything happened very fast, I must say. I was driving and one of the tyres of the car I was driving just burst. It happened close to Mikano factory. Before I got to that spot, there was a ghastly motor crash there, and the person with me in the car and I were still talking about it when the tyre burst. Some police officers were even around the spot. It was just like a dream, honestly. The guys were fast. It was not even up to five minutes and the Fulani guys just came out and attacked us and abducted me.

Before then, I had just come down from the car – a Toyota Highlander (2006) – to see how we could change the tyre or manage it till we could change it. Before I got down, I was telling the person beside me how I thought it was a bad idea to have stopped there. After I checked and entered the car, the Fulani guys just attacked us. There were about three of them at first. So, while I was struggling with them, another one joined them and the guy beside me ran because the attackers came from the driver’s side. I couldn’t overpower them alone as they were hitting me and pushed me down from the bridge and I landed on the ground where others were waiting to collect me. When I found myself in that position, I just told myself that the end had come. I couldn’t struggle with them from that position again. That was how they took me inside the bush. We walked for like two hours on foot inside the swamp and through the water till we got to their hideout which is an uncompleted building with a decking.

Later on, they told me they were armed robbers who were not scared of death. They threatened that if my parents did not bring the money, they would transfer me to a place called Mafia and to Zaria. They later said my family should take the ransom money to Ilorin.

How much did they collect as ransom in the end?

After they saw that there was no way in the world I could afford N10m, they reduced it to N3m. My family begged them for N2m, but they said even if they collected the N2m, they would still kill me. One of them said I should pray to my God because it was only Him who could save me from their hands. I was so scared. He kept saying he would collect that ransom and kill or transfer me to the Mafia. At around 8pm, we left that place and went back to the uncompleted building barefoot, where they told me to negotiate with my family. My people told them that the money was ready. They then said they should buy suya (roasted meat), cartons of tin milk and malt drink; packs of cigarettes and lighter when they were bringing the ransom. As we waited, no minute passed without them smoking hard drugs. I was so scared for my life.

Were they armed?

One of them had a gun. The rest had knives, daggers and other weapons. This is something they do often and they were prepared. They attacked us like experts. Those guys know every part of that bush. They didn’t walk like they were confused. They had left footprints so they knew exactly where they were going in that forest. When they wanted to release me, I overheard one of them talking to one of their colleagues on the phone, and they were mentioning names of ‘streets’ they have carved out in the forest. I heard one say something like, “We dey Zaria Road”. With this, it is clear they know every part of that bush.

They gave me that their garri that has onions inside and water. That was all I ate.

How did you regain freedom?

I had even lost hope; I had resigned to fate that I would die there because I didn’t hear anything from my family and I thought they couldn’t come up with the money as they had promised. They just told me to follow them and it looked like they were heading out. I think one of them had gone to collect the money. They called him ‘Sergeant’. The others were called ‘officers’. The money was brought to the uncompleted building, I guess, before I was allowed to go. There was one of them there who understood Yoruba well, but he was also Fulani because he also communicated in Fulfulde. That one is the devil among them. He was ruthless. He was a very young boy but his heart is dark and it didn’t look like he cared about humanity at all.

They just took me to a part of the road and I met their boss. He was the one who told me that my family loves me and they have given them the money. They asked me to clear my iPhone but I didn’t log out on iCloud. So, it is still active on that phone and can be tracked. They returned my SIM card and told me to call my family to meet me at Fagbems Filling Station, around OPIC. Punch