How Abducted Oyo School Victims Survived 56 Days in Captivity – DSS Witness
A Department of State Services (DSS) witness on Thursday gave a harrowing account before the Federal High Court in Abuja of how 49 students and teachers abducted from schools in Orire Local Government Area of Oyo State endured hunger, thirst, beatings and exposure to harsh weather during 56 days in captivity.
The witness, identified only as “AAA” for security reasons, told Justice Salim Olasupo Ibrahim that the captives were moved through six different locations, forced to walk barefoot and made to sleep on grass while exposed to heavy rainfall and intense sunshine before security forces eventually rescued them.
Testifying under examination by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, the witness said the ordeal was particularly distressing because some of the victims were very young children, including pre-nursery pupils and a child as young as one and a half years old.
She told the court that the incident began when armed men stormed the schools on about 12 motorcycles, firing sporadically and preventing students and teachers from escaping.
According to the witness, each motorcycle carried about four abductees as the attackers moved their captives into the bush. A Toyota vehicle belonging to one of the teachers was also allegedly commandeered to transport some of the victims.
AAA testified that after reaching the bush, the leader of the kidnappers addressed the captives and told them that they had not been abducted primarily for ransom but as leverage to secure the release of detained members of the Ansaru group.
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She further told the court that two teachers were taken away on separate occasions and killed, with their captors allegedly claiming that the government was not taking their demands seriously.
The witness said the kidnappers seized mobile phones belonging to the victims and used them to contact their relatives and government officials in an attempt to negotiate their demands.
Describing conditions in captivity, AAA said the victims suffered severe hunger and thirst, with water rationed so tightly that four people sometimes had to share a single cup.
She said even the little water available was dirty and foul-smelling, leaving the captives with little choice but to drink it to remain alive.
“We had to drink the dirty water just to survive,” she told the court.
Food also became increasingly scarce as the weeks passed.
According to the witness, the kidnappers initially fed the captives rice mixed with salt and palm oil. When the salt was exhausted, they were served rice and palm oil, before eventually being given only plain white rice after the palm oil also ran out.
She alleged that some young children were flogged by the kidnappers to stop them from struggling for food, which was served in plastic containers.
The court also heard that throughout their 56 days in captivity, the students and teachers were unable to bathe or wash their clothes.
AAA said the victims consequently remained in the same dirty condition for weeks as they were moved from one hideout to another.
Their ordeal ended at the sixth location when security forces reportedly engaged the kidnappers in a gun battle and rescued the captives.
Following the witness’s testimony, defence counsel Bala Dakum is expected to cross-examine her on Friday, September 18.
Justice Ibrahim also ordered that the defendants remain in DSS custody for the duration of the trial.
By PRNigeria
