Saved by menstruation!
Woman survives five days in ritualists’ den
From Moshood Adebayo, Abeokuta
Sunday, November 01, 2009


Mrs Adeniji
Photo: Sun News Publishing
More Stories on This Section
It was narrow escape for a mother of three in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital after spending five days in kidnappers den in the ancient town.
Mrs Tope Adeniji, who miraculously escaped from the ritualists’ hideout, said for the first time in her life, she saw fresh skull and lifeless bodies with their heads severed from the rest of their bodies.

Adeniji, a staff of the Ogun State Magistrate Court, Isabo, Abeokuta, was returning home penultimate Tuesday when she ran into the get-rich-quick men of the underworld through a taxicab she boarded.

Road to kidnappers den
I was returning home after work at Isabo to the Aregbe area of the state. I met three other persons who pretended to be passengers in the taxi. By the time we got to Asero, I noticed that the two ‘passengers’ beside me had dozed off. There was another one in front, beside the driver.
I still did not suspect any foul play until we got to an area called CAMP, where I requested that I should be allowed to disembark since I have reached my destination. Rather than allow me get out, one man who sat in front of the cab pulled out a gun. He ordered me to lie face down, which I obeyed immediately. Thereafter, I knew nothing again until we got to an unknown place where several others, more than 100 that had been kidnapped, were waiting for the hangman.

When we got there, I switched my telephone to discreet (vibration) and inserted it almost inside my private part. I was taken to a place where a man that appears to be their leader stays. Before his arrival, I managed to send text messages to people, particularly members of my church that I had been kidnapped.
I noticed that a net that I believe had been charmed was usually put on their prey, who within few minutes would die. But when a similar thing was placed on me, nothing happened to me. So their leader instructed that I should be taken away very fast.

Thereafter, I was taken to a room within their enclave for some minutes. About thirty minutes after, their leader requested for me and he asked those who kidnapped me where they got me.
They stripped me naked and noticed that I was menstruating. This infuriated them and their leader ordered that I should be taken away from his sight. They obeyed immediately and I was taken to a room where I was left alone for hours.

When I got to the room, I resumed sending text messages to people until they came in with a plate of food, which I rejected. Afterwards, they asked me my name and I gave them a fictitious name. I passed the night alone in the room.
The following morning, their leader came to tell me that I was stubborn. I pleaded with them that I should be spared. He later directed that his boys should rub a substance on my face. When I did not react as they had expected, he again instructed that I should be returned to the room from where I was brought.
On the third day, those boys that were guarding attempted to rape me and while struggling with them, blood came out from my private part and they all shouted that I was not clean.

So I was left alone. I later sent a message to my pastor requesting that I should be given the name of an angel, which I repeated several times.
One thing that I noticed that while I was calling the holy name, my guards started fighting themselves and they left me alone.
The following day, they forcibly cut my fingers and toenails before I was taken to a dungeon where another spiritual net was used to cover me. Thereafter, they returned me to the room again with guards. All this while I was praying, reciting the names of angels sent to me by my pastors and others.

On the fourth day, one of the guards offered to assist me, but he did not give details of how he would do it. That very day too, I was taken to another man that seemed like their overall boss. When I got there, he asked me whether I am a Sango worshipper and I said no. He told me that what he was seeing on me suggested that I was an adherent of Sango.

I did not know what transpired between them as I kept pleading that I should be allowed to go. The man that promised to assist me then told me that about 2am he would assist me. Thinking that they would harm me at about the time, I attempted to run into safety but I did not succeed because the fence of the yard was higher than the usual.

As he promised, about that time, he opened the gate of the building where I had been incarcerated and threw my bag they collected from me the day I got there. After trekking some minutes from the kidnappers den, I got to a thick bush. I continued trekking until I got to a cassava farm near the mechanic village along the Abeokuta-Lagos road. There I sent a text message to my people who came to pick me. I was later taken to my church where more prayers were offered for me. I thank God that I am alive to tell this story.

How prayers saved me
I survived their onslaught through the grace of God and prayers by members of my church at the Christ Anointed and Miracle Church Cherubim and Seraphim Church, (CAMCA). But for God, I would have been killed like several others that met their untimely death.
Before, I used to think that kidnapping in our town is not real. But with my experience, I now know better than before. I know on daily basis somebody somewhere is being used for money ritual. I thank God for saving my life. He is the one that rescued me from the hands of the ritualists. I will continue to serve Him for the rest of my life.