The Nigeria Army on Thursday handed over a corps member who was abducted by gunmen along Wukari-Jalingo road to the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) authorities in Taraba.
The NYSC Coordinator in Taraba, Mr. David Markson, confirmed the development to journalists in Jalingo, the state capital.
He said the corps member, Okoye John, 28, serving in Benue was kidnapped on March 4 when the vehicle he was traveling in ran into a checkpoint mounted by the gunmen.
According to him, the corps member was blindfolded and taken into the bush on a motorcycle from where the kidnappers established contact with his father and demanded N5 million ransom.
Okoye, who narrated his ordeal in the hands of the kidnappers, said he was denied food for several days and beaten mercilessly by his abductors who stripped him of his NYSC uniform and left him naked for days.
He said: “On the 4th of March, I was traveling from Ukum to Jalingo after getting clearance to go for medical treatment because I am highly asthmatic. At about 8:30 p.m., our vehicle ran into a supposed police checkpoint mounted by gunmen.
“We were flagged down and everybody in the vehicle was ordered to come down from the vehicle and forced to lie down on the road.
“They collected all our money including my own N22,000 before they eventually blindfolded me and dragged me into the bush.”
Okoye said he was driven on a bike into the bush for over an hour before he was dropped at a destination where he was kept for days.
“They asked me to call NYSC to bring money but I told them NYSC doesn’t give money. But I eventually gave them my father’s number whom they told to bring N5million or I will be killed.
“After several days of negotiation, and after my dad insisted that he doesn’t have money, they eventually agreed to collect N300,000. After collecting the money, they blindfolded me again and drove me through the bush for another one hour before dropping me off.
“I was wandering in the bush before the operatives of Operation Ayema Kpatuma saw me and I told them I was a corps member and was kidnapped by gunmen.
“They told me that they have been looking for me and that was how I was rescued,” the rescue corps member added. (NAN)
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