A parent of one the freed victims of Apostolic Faith Group of Schools, Emure-Ekiti, Ekiti State, abducted last week, has narrated how the school bus driver lost his life in the den of kidnappers.
The kidnappers, having freed the captives on Sunday, reportedly killed and burnt the driver of the school bus, identified as Taiwo Olugbaye, in the forest.
According to the parent whose wife and son were among the kidnapped persons, members of the community and other indigenes, both home and abroad, contributed ransom that made it possible for the children to regain their freedom
The children and teachers were freed after N15 million, food, tramadol, milk and hard drinks were handed over to the abductors as ransom.
He narrated anonymously saying: “We had challenges locating them. When we first entered the forest, we spent about two hours without seeing the kidnappers. We had to go back and forth before we saw those who asked us to bring the money. They took us into the bush that was far from where we parked the motorcycle that we took there.
“We gave them what they demanded and they released the pupils and teachers to us. Nine persons were kidnapped, but eight persons were released; we didn’t see the ninth person.
“As they collected the money, they said we should run off. I cannot say specifically the location in the forest. It is between Ondo and Ekiti states. We entered around Ago Panu along Owo-Ikare Road in Ondo State and went deep into the expansive forest.
“When they released the victims to us, I embraced my family members. I thank God for the reunion. It was one of them who said that they shot the driver dead.”
Asked why the driver was killed, he said: “The children told us that they (kidnappers) asked for the phone number of relatives to call from each of them in the forest.
“The driver told them he didn’t know that of his wife and school proprietor off-hand. This made them angry and they hit him with their gun.
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“For five days, he was writhing in pains from the injury he sustained. On Saturday morning, he was shot dead and painfully, his body was burnt to ashes. It was a bitter and terrifying experience for the little children, especially looking at how the driver was killed.”
The school proprietor, Gabriel Adesanya, in a chat with Punch said: “The corpse of the driver has not been found yet. The freed kidnapped victims said he was killed between yesterday and this morning. We cannot trace the body at the moment since we don’t know the location where they were kept. We have discussed with the police whether we can recover it.”
A woman, whose three grandchildren were among the kidnapped persons, said that her joy knew no bounds on reuniting with them after they were released in the early hours of Sunday.
She said, “My joy knows no bounds as I speak with you. When I saw my children, we held one another in long embrace and we all wept especially when I saw the condition they were in. They spent about a week in the forest.
“God was with us in our journey yesterday (Saturday), I could see my children again. I went to the bush with the search party for the rescue. It was located off Owo-Ikare Road in Ondo State. Initially, I didn’t want to go because of my leg, but on second thought that my three grandchildren were involved, I chose to go.
“The kidnappers were calling persistently that we should hurry up. They said we should meet them at Ikare Junction. I wondered how come Ikare junction when they took the children from Eporo. When we got to Ikare Junction, they said we should buy food, so we went to buy rice, meat, and other things.
“At a point, they called that we should turn back and described another road. We decided that all of us should not go there so that they would not think that we came with policemen who could make them injure the abductees.
“Later, the kidnappers said that only two persons should come. They threatened to waste the kidnapped persons if more than two persons should come. So, only two persons continued while the rest of us sat on the road there.
“The driver of the vehicle had to return at a point and two persons then used a motorbike to trace the kidnappers to drop the money and food.”
