By Tola Gbadamosi

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A 23-year-old lady, Odey Regina Olayemi, who was kidnapped recently and released seven days after, has narrated her ordeal in the abductors’ den.

Olayemi was kidnapped at their farm located at Ago-Oyinbo village in Akure North local government area of Ondo State by four armed kidnappers.

The victim, who described her ordeal as horrific, revealed she spent seven days in the kidnappers’ den, before her abductors released her after the sum of N350,000 was paid as ransom.

Speaking with journalists on Monday at the Amotekun Corps headquarters in Akure, Olayemi said; “My parents were in the town. So, I went to the village to help my sisters before our resumption so I can get money to take to school.

“On the fateful day, we were in the farm and suddenly we saw three herdsmen coming towards us. I told my sisters that these Fulani people were coming to our side, and I wanted to run. But they assured me that I should not go  anywhere, that they are not going to do anything to us.

“When the men got to us, they asked us to kneel down and we knelt down. At that moment, we started begging them. Two of them were with guns while the third person was with cutlass. They later asked only me to stand up and told me that I should  follow them. They cut cassava sticks and started beating me as we were going.

“I spent seven days with them. They asked for my dad’s number, but I told them that I did not know it off head because I had already lost my memory. I later told them my parents were dead.  That I just came to the village to help my sisters, so I will get money to take care of myself in school.

“But they said it was a lie. They claimed they knew everything about my family. I later gave them my number because I was not with my phone that day. Immediately I gave them my number, they started calling the phone, but nobody picked it. Later, one of my sisters that came from Akure to our village picked the call and they informed her that they had kidnapped me.

“It was that my sister that went to the Amotekun’s office to report after which the corps swung into action to rescue me and I thank God that they rescued me.”

The Amotekun Corps Commander, Adetunji Adeleye, who also spoke on how the corps rescued the young lady said about 29 people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in various criminal activities in the state in recent times.

Adeleye said, “We were about to pick up the suspected criminals, especially kidnappers and we were also about to bring the victims who had gone through terrible times in their hands physically.

“The resurgence of kidnapping within the state made us to now go deep into forests to fish out and smoke out these kidnappers. We have a total number of 29 criminals. Out of it them, about 20 are suspected kidnappers. A step further, we also invited all those that came to complain that they were kidnapped in the last three to four months in the state and they were able to identify majority of them.

“As a matter of fact, we had to cross the river before we were able to arrest them, and we were equally attacked by majority of them. We found out that these criminals live in our forests along Ala-Dada, Jugbere, up to Ijagba and we were able to comb the forests.

“Some of these criminals engage in feeding victims, charging their phones, and a lot of other things that they do. And this is to send a strong signal that even crossing the water will not deter Amotekun from fishing these criminals out of Ondo State. The only solution is for all these criminals and kidnappers to pack and leave the state.

“The signal we are sending to the public is, we will continue to rely on your cooperation and we will also strive to ensure that Ondo State remains very safe. There is no cause for alarm.”