A Nigerian man (names withheld) has recounted in a video how he escaped from being killed by suspected armed kidnappers who abducted him and other passengers in a commercial bus at the Lekki-Ikoyi axis of Lagos state.
Narrating his ordeal with bruises and blood on his nose and mouth, the man who said he has facilities in Ajah, Jakande, Elegosi, Marariwa or Banana Island that provide skate coaching services daily, said he had a lot of sessions and thereafter was tired.
According to him, he decided to board a commercial bus from the link bridge to Iyana Oworo but noted something unusual immediately after he entered the vehicle.
“I noticed that there was this weird smell in the bus and anybody who has been involved in military training or settings will know about gasses that knock people off, so I knew that was what it was.
“So I spat on my handkerchief and I used it to cover my nose. In about five or ten minutes, every other occupant of the vehicle was all asleep except the team members who had brought out, coincidentally, nose masks to cover their noses.
“Their leader at the front looked back at me and shouted at me, “you no dey sleep? Wetin you dey find? Wetin you dey look?” (Are you not sleeping? What are you looking for?).
“There and then I knew that they were kidnappers. We started exchanging words and I wasn’t rude or anything. I was just begging them that the phone I’m using is a Samsung Galaxy S22 and it is N1.3 million in the market now and that I can give it to them, at least they can still sell it for N800,000.
“I told them, this is my ATM, you can empty it. I have a very big chain that is worth millions. I told them, you can take it but they refused and they said the only place I am going to come down is where they will dagger me and pieces me.
“Because they saw that I was shouting, they veered off the road and went to the place that leads to Adeniji Underbridge. It was pitch dark. They brought me out and started using knives, cutlasses, different things on me.
“Now I am fortified. I am an African. I don’t take chances. I don’t take things for granted. So when they saw that the stabbing attempts, that the knife was not entering; their dagger, their kitchen knife, their cutlass, they tried to cut me. About three of them held my neck, another two held my hand to the back. They put a knife on my neck to try and slash my neck and slaughter me but it wasn’t penetrating.
“I heard their leader telling them in Hausa that they should put me down and use their boot to crush my head. About three of them were wearing army uniforms. About six of them held my hand and legs, two were using their boots to hit my eyes, hit my nose, they just wanted to knock me out.
“After some minutes, I just realized I was getting dizzy and I was about to faint and once that happens, these people will take me and do whatever they want. So, I reached out for my bag which was on the floor and nobody noticed. I took out the knife and I started waving it in different directions, so it cut one of them in the tummy. His tummy got burst, another one in the eye and they started bleeding profusely. Their leader was now like they have gotten the remaining ones who are asleep, let them carry them and deliver them and that they should leave me.”
