A hairstylist, Elizabeth Arowojolu, has recounted how she escaped from kidnappers after gunmen abducted 16 travellers along the Benin-Ore Expressway in September.
Arowojolu said she was travelling from Benin to Lagos on September 13 to visit a friend when the vehicle she was travelling in was intercepted shortly after Ore in Ondo State.
According to her, the journey began around 3pm after she boarded a bus at Ogheghe on the Sapele Bypass Road in Benin City. The attack occurred around 5pm, when the kidnappers blocked the bus and began threatening the driver.
She said four attackers were involved, three of whom were carrying guns while another had a cutlass and a large stick. After forcing their way into the bus, the men allegedly fired a shot into the air and ordered the passengers to surrender their belongings.
Arowojolu said she was struck on the forehead near her eye after one of the attackers noticed her trying to hide a second phone. She subsequently became unconscious but said she could still hear what was happening around her.
The kidnappers later ordered about 16 victims, including occupants of another vehicle, to leave the road and follow them into the bush. Arowojolu said they were forced to walk for more than two hours before the abductors instructed them to sit in a circle with their hands behind their heads.
She said two of the kidnappers eventually moved away from the group, creating an opportunity for some of the captives to escape.
“One of the men who had been signalling to me stood up and started running. I ran with them. I was the only woman who escaped with the men,” she recounted.
According to her, the kidnappers fired shots into the air and threatened to kill the escapees, but she and the other fleeing victims continued running through the bush.
Four people initially escaped together, although one later went in a different direction. Arowojolu and two others continued until about 6am, when they stopped to rest.
They later encountered an elderly farmer and two children, who took them to their home, gave them water and helped them find their way to a nearby road. Arowojolu eventually reached Narowi Junction, where she obtained assistance and contacted her family using a borrowed phone and Wi-Fi.
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