My name is Presh. I left Jos for Warri by Plateau Riders bus on the 14th of April 2021, to visit my family.
The journey was terribly long. By the time we got to Ekpoma, it was already 8:45pm . I had a premonition something terrible was going to happen . I tried consoling myself with my previous travel history which was relatively hitch free. Prior to this particular journey, I usually arrive Warri at about 12am or 1am as the case may be. I hate night travels but atimes, it is inevitable.
When we got to Ehor(just before Benin), three flashes of touch lights flickered at our bus, beckoning us to a halt. This was accompanied by sporadic gunshots. Sadly, it dawned on me that "the hour had come". At that same moment, a sienna car was approaching, it received the same welcome message. The passengers of both vehicles were ordered out. I was terrified beyond description. They were not ordinary natives trying to rob, they were the dreaded , heartless Fulani herdsmen who have been wrecking havoc and terrorising the whole country.
We were escorted into the forest as we marched in like sheep going to the slaughter. I quickly took out my small Nokia phone, called my fiance and my father, spoke to them in hush voices telling them my location and what happened. There was no way to find out if they heard me. My only hope was in God. Next thing I did was to switch off my android phone and I located a safe haven for it somewhere on my body. .
They led us farther into the heart of the forest , we trekked for hours without break . One guy tried to escape by running towards a different direction in the forest, he was caught in no time and beaten mercilessly to serve as deterrent to the rest of us. They also separated those with babies before we entered the deeper part of the forest. I can’t really tell what happened to them, but I think they were released because we never saw them again. At a point, we were instructed to lie on the ground . The driver of my bus was spanked lightly and called aside, I do not know what became of him too afterwards, as I never sighted him again . The kidnappers collected all our belongings, from money to wristwatches to handbags....name it. They began questioning our itinerary one after the other. Somehow, all northern travellers were told to get up except me. Again , I knew not where they took that group.
After about an hour of lying on d floor with deafening silence, our captors ordered us to get up. To my greatest dismay, we were just five remaining there. I thought God had heard my prayers so quickly, I thought we were about to be released. Unfortunately, we were moved from the proverbial plantation to the penitentiary, and our ordeal appeared to have just begun. That night, we trekked for about three hours into the deepest part of the forest.. into the Hobbesian State of Nature, where life was nasty, brutish and rough, void of all forms of civilization. The night was agonisingly dark and dreary. The moon was so sad, it refused to spare us its illumination. We stumbled through the woods , through thorns , we climbed some hills but mostly we walked through the valleys. After trekking nonstop for about three hours, we were told to lay down and sleep.
I was awake all night long watching and reciting Scriptures: "from whence cometh my help...who is this king of glory...there's therefore now no enchantment against Jacob...for I know the thoughts I think towards you... I shall thread upon serpents and scorpions, non shall by any means hurt me...against powers, principalities, spiritual wickedness in high places, touch not my annointed and do my prophet no harm...call upon me in the day of trouble..." Psalms 23, Psalms 91, some references from Isaiah. I prayed quietly till all my strength left me. I prayed for miracles as of old time; hailstones to destroy my enemies, but God was quietly watching. How Christ felt in the garden of Gethsemane became so real to me. Unlike Him, however, I forgot to add "let thine will be done".
When it was morning, I could see clearly that we were in an uninhabited forest, no honking of vehicles , just the buzzing of bees, chirping of insects and sounds from birds. The early morning sunlight was the only friendly companion. We were heavily guarded in our "maximum security prison" by seven obviously mentally unstable Fulani men. From their looks, I could tell they were from either Chad or Niger.They had other members scattered all around the forest. Well, they asked us to identify our phones from all the lots they seized and used it to call our contacts to bail us. Ten million was the amount they placed on me, and others had varying amounts too. When all our calls were not promising for the amount asked, they began to threaten us with guns and sharp knives. They promised to butcher us like Christmas chicken. If we say the "wrong things" over the phone, they would immediately slap us, collect the phone and flog us with sticks.
To my greatest surprise , they spoke impeccable English during negotiations. However when conversing with themselves, they used Hausa. Also, they don't call themselves by names. They communicate with the sound they use in directing their cattle. For instance, if they hear any approaching footsteps, they would make their code sound. If the intruder is one of them, he would respond with the same sound. On some occasions, I heard two names: ALHAJI and YARO.
Again, I never saw them eat good food. They smoked cigarettes in the morning, afternoon, night and midnight. It was their major food. The other food they ate was garri. They would pour garri into a plastic bag, slice onions on it, add Maggi, mix up the combo and eat.
We spent three nights and four days in the wilderness without food and water. We slept on urine and faeces that had been there before we arrived. We were stung by bees. We trekked for approximately sixteen hours each day probably so we won't be traced. We just kept trekking to and fro the "valley of death" in between thorns, on our bare feet! We were not allowed to retrieve our slippers when they fell off. We stepped on shallow graves with repugnant stench of decomposed organic matter.
On the third day, I began to lose faith. The tempest was raging, all my energy was gone. While trekking, my world began to spin, I felt my heart giving up, my lungs could not produce requisite respiration. Alas! I fainted... I was awakened by a metallic slap which landed on my bum. When I opened my eyes, I saw the devil hovering a sharp machete above my head. I got up with all the will power I could muster.They gave us a very dirty brown colored water, I drank the little I could so that I could live up to the hour of rescue. Later that afternoon, It rained cat and dog . The heavens poured out its fury . But you know, we couldn't see, we were blindfolded whenever we weren't walking. We were weary and drenched from body to soul. We shivered all through the night with rattling teeth.
On that very cold night, Yaro , who had slapped me on the second day, approached me. He told me I am the most beautiful amongst the captives. He made love overtures and revealed his intentions of taking me with him to Ghana. He began talking of how I had nice legs, and how he would love to marry me. I intensified my prayers within me as I knew the implications of that. Thank God it didn't go beyond that. I never uttered a word. Yaro then asked if I was married, I quickly said yes. He asked how many children I had, I told him one. He started calling me his in-law and promised to come look for me so he can marry my daughter. I rebuked him in my spirit. All along, I never stopped praying. Prayer was my daily bread since there was no physical food.
Finally, on the fourth day, they woke us up around 2am and we trekked till around 5am. They were taking us to the bush closer to the road. Our family representatives brought our ransome around 5pm. We were released thirty minutes later. Prior to that, Yaro told us they 've been travelling in the forest for three months. He said they had trekked through the forest from Illorin, through Ajase in Ondo State before they got to Benin. He also told us Ondo had the largest forest. He said they own the forest and are not afraid of anything.
I must not drop my pen without saying special thanks and gratitude to my family and friends who stood by me throughout those turbulent days, praying and making intercessions on my behalf. I also pray Almighty God to replenish the sources from whence cameth my ransome. My advice to all travellers is first, to avoid night travels and second, not to travel by road if it is avoidable.The country is not safe.

Hmmm... Thank God for protecting you. May God continue to deliver us from Buhari's kinsmen.

I cry for this country because their is no hope for the youth, what can I boost of as a Nigerian, I stand up to protest for my right the government killed us and cleaned mouth...

Where ever you are in this country pray for God protection in your life and your family.

God is the one protecting us, our security agency are useless..

Thank God for your life OP

Upon the millions they are collecting as ransom na inside forest Dem dey sleep dey chop rubbish .... Suffering

Thank God for your life o.. Nigeria is a mess

Hmm, what a life. Glory to God for the release. Traveling via road is now a big wahala in Nigeria. Hmm, Ondo where I am serving please be nice to me whenever I am going to Benue in Jesus name.

Thank God you came out alive

Hmmm

Sad to learn about your incidence. I cannot imagine what you or your family had to go through. Fact is that some of these bastards are not even Nigerians. They just take advantage of the weak Nigerian security architecture to do their crimes and get away with it. The moment we start taking every kidnap case as serious as if Zahra Buhari was kidnapped, that is when our roads will be free. The more successful a kidnap scheme goes, the more the member of those kidnap gangs will form other gangs to make good money unscathed. We must get it right in Nigeria. Thanks for sharing your story with us.

Thank God for your life sister, we never had it this bad since inception, insecurity coupled with inflation and underemployment, every sectors are messed up big time.

May we all not go to journey of no return.

Uhmmm
Thank God for rescuing you alive.
Not many came out alive after paying Ransome

As we speak so many Nigerians are in the jaws and claws of these ferocious beasts, but one thing that surprises me is how these cows are able to master and navigate unfamiliar forest terrains. Reports suggest that some of these Fulanis come from Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and even as far as Senegal. The federal govt and law enforcement agent should employ local Fulani from Gombe to be tracking these criminals and kill them all.

Thank God for your life.

Agege BREAD... 500

Bama 100
Moi moi 250
Salad 100
Ponmo 250
Dodo 40
A Very Balanced diet sir...
Wehdone sir

Thank God for His mercy.

We were heavily guarded in our "maximum security prison" by seven obviously mentally unstable Fulani men. From their looks, I could tell they were from either Chad or Niger.They had other members scattered all around the forest.


Nigeria is being invaded by foreign terrorists, they want to take over our lands and loot us, we need to be killing them. Buhari what is going on?

We suspect something sinister, otherwise I see no reason why you don't want to kill these invaders.

Does FG want Nigerians to rise up against the politicians with violence before they take action. We are in the streets, it will not be funny this time, the people are pushed to the wall.

Break Nigeria and save lifes

Your driver was spanked lightly and you didn't see him again.
Are you sure he is not an accomplice?

alfarouq:
Your driver was spanked lightly and you didn't see him again.
Are you sure he is not an accomplice?

Same thoughts o

It's well oOoOO