There was a Sunday around 8:30 pm – 9 pm along Jibia road, I’d left my phone where I gave it for charging in Magamar Jibia. I was walking to the place with my friend when he said, “Look at some guys over there; I don’t trust them.”
I responded to him that we should run, and he said no let’s continue walking. While walking, they surrounded us with guns and said anybody who tried to run would be shot.
They searched us, collected all the money I had with me and my shoes as well, and kept moving with us alongside another man with his wife and less-than-a-year-old baby girl. We kept walking like in a movie. We walked for more than 15 kilometres before we got to the bush where their motorcycles were parked.
We got to a river where they offered us water to drink after one of them slapped me and asked me to wear my shoes. That was when I realised my legs were full of thorns.
When we arrived at where the motorcycles were, they gave us a few minutes to rest, after which they asked us to get on the bikes and said they would shoot anybody who fell.
There were three bikes in front of us and another behind us. We kept going till around 3:30 am when they dropped us in the forest around Zamfara state.
They immediately dropped us in a hut. There was a red fire. They used chains and padlocks to tie all of us by the legs, except for that lady. They beat us with canes and we were crying. They put some nylon in the fire and melted it on our legs. I just continued crying and praying. They kept beating us till morning. Later in the morning, they put a knife on fire and after it got hot, they would put it on our legs and hands.
Before their boss arrived that morning, one of the bandit boys attempted to rape the other lady but his colleagues told him that if their boss found out, he would kill him, and the boss was on his way, which made him stop. They even told him that the boss said no one should beat us again.
A few moments later, the boss arrived and met the lady crying. He asked what happened to her. We kept quiet because of fear, but one of us responded and told him that one of your boys attempted to rape her. The boss said okay, that means the boy is stupid.
They changed our location and decided to take us to another place at the top of the hills, where we met another four people they kidnapped from Gurbin Bore in the Zurmi area of Zamfara state. They were three women and one Imam.
It was during winter, but that was where we slept and spent the day. It looked like a prison. We slept on one side of our bodies. Up till now, my ribs are still in pain.
One day they asked me if I had any phone number to call for my relatives and I said yes. The boss responded that if I didn’t have one, they would have shot and killed me.
I first called my boss, but he didn’t pick up. Then I called a friend and informed him about my situation. He told all my colleagues and went to my village and informed my parents about it. They kept praying for me.
They started negotiating up to the point that my relatives asked to pay 1.5 million naira for my release. I just kept praying. I was building my own house at the time and I’d already installed doors. There were other building materials on the ground that I was planning to use, but I had no option but to ask them to sell everything.
We found someone who paid one million naira, but the major challenge was where to get the remaining 500,000. We kept pleading with them to accept the one million and luckily, they agreed.
I can recall it was on Sunday night the ransom was delivered to them by one of my uncles. They said they would release me later on Monday.
We spent 15 days in their camp. One of them was so wicked; if he tied us and we moved, he would use a cutlass to beat us. Unknown to us, he attempted to rape one of the victims and when their boss knew about it, his colleagues took him somewhere else and killed him. One of them later told us that he was killed.
Before accepting the one million, I remember that on Friday they told me that if the 1.5 million wasn’t fulfilled, they would surely kill me. The boss told me to remove the rags and open my eyes to see him, telling me he always lived in the bush, so I should not expect I knew him or that I would see him in town one day, threatening to kill me. He even asked his boy to put ammunition in his rifle, but I kept praying. He told me about a lot of locations in Katsina where his boys are going and buying things. I said he should help me and call my family, that I wanted to talk to them, but he didn’t do so. He just left with his bike. After a few minutes, he decided to come back and told me that my prayer worked because he felt he could not go without letting me talk to my relatives. He called them and that was when I gave them the order to sell my house.
After the ransom was paid, they said we should come and go home. I could not even stand up because of my legs, but they brought us out of the forest. The person driving us said he was not a bandit, but he worked for them to buy things and drive some of them into the town just to protect himself from them. He kept sympathising with us.
He dropped us at the outskirts and luckily some people saw us and took us to Jibia. People came toward us, sympathised with us, and even bought medications and food for us. They later brought us back to Katsina. Already, relatives and friends were there, waiting for our arrival and they kept jubilating.
Immediately when admitted to the hospital, I received four drips of saline.
I spent three to four months at home before I started coming out because of the injuries and pain. There was a time when I could not wear shoes at all.
As narrated by: Abdulsalam Abdul-Aziz – 34 (Rimi, Katsina).
This snippet is published as part of the series, What We Lost to the Bandits.
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