‘I was tied to a tree and beaten’ — kidnap victim in Niger recounts ordeal

Rufai Galadima, a resident of Niger state, says he was tied to a tree and beaten by bandits who kidnapped him from his community.

Recounting his experience on Thursday, Galadima said he was kidnapped when two armed men attacked Bassa, a village in Shiroro LGA.

Galadima, who identified himself as a final year HND student of regional planning at the Niger State Polytechnic, Zungeru, said he spent 29 days in captivity.

“I was kidnapped from my village, Bassa, in Shiroro local government area of Niger state while resting in my family house between 8pm and 9pm by two heavily-armed men on October 17,” he said in an interview with NAN.

“I was kidnapped along with my younger brother’s wife but when I pleaded with them that the woman was pregnant and sick, they let her go.

“I told them that I am a student and had nothing. When they asked to see other members of the family, I told them that they went out.

“They said since we did not have money, they would take me to their camp in the forest.

“When we got to their forest camp in Gwanda in Chukuba area of Shiroro, they tied me to a tree and beat me to force my family to bring money.”

According to Galadima, he was not served food the day he was kidnapped but the bandits fed on a fowl stolen from a compound while on their way to the forest.

He said his family was contacted to pay the sum of N5 million as ransom, adding that his abductors rejected the N200,000 earlier offered by his family.

He also said his family could not involve the police as the only station in the community was abandoned due to persistent attacks.

“When my family later sold our properties and raised N1.3 million, the negotiation continued, before they accepted it and freed me at 9am on November 14,” he added.

Galadima said over 20 girls held captive by the bandits were sexually abused, adding that the kidnapped victims were fed on yams stolen from farmlands in the forest.

“Many of the bandits in the camp ate the food and left me to stay hungry throughout the first night,’’ he said.

“They did not allow the girls to go anywhere. The ladies only cooked for them and had intimacy with them. I also noticed that the ladies were not allowed to have their baths, even when they were menstruating.

“They told me that they got their weapons from Cameroon, Niger Republic, Sokoto and Zamfara. They even boasted of shooting down a helicopter sometime in Shiroro.”

He named weapons possessed by the bandits to include AK-47 rifles, AK-49 rifles, pump action guns, rocket-propelled guns, machetes and machine guns.

According to the victim, the bandits used camels to transport weapons to Shiroro.

The development comes days after Ahmed Matane, secretary to the state government, listed Rafi, Munya, Shiroro Mariga, Mashegu and Lapai as unsafe regions in the state.