Olabimtan, Ex-Ondo speaker: My kidnap experience

Hon. Victor Olabimtan, former Speaker, Ondo State House of Assembly and governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming election in the state was recently kidnapped and released after four days in the den of his captors.
The former lawmaker, who returned to a rousing welcome by people of his hometown, Supare-Akoko in Akoko North West Local Government Area of the state recently, shared his experience with our Correspondent, BAMIGBOLA GBOLAGUNTE. Excerpts

His views on abduction

It was an experience that can ginger one to know what to do if you are in government. My experience shows that in terms of security, our government needs to buckle up; government really needs to work harder. The issue about security is not about the arms and ammunition that we give to the police, the army, the Navy, No. The security of the people is very important and what are these things to make for the security of the people, the people must have food in their stomach, the people must have work to do. When a graduate is roaming about the street, one year, two years, three years, four years, five years and no job, the devil will definitely find job for an idle hand. I discovered that some of my captors were graduates and because they had no means of livelihood, they resolved to do what they were doing. That is why I’m saying that our government must provide shelter for our people , they must provide infrastructure, they must provide job, when we do these, there will be security.

How did it happen?

At exactly 6:35am on that fateful day, we got to a spot and I was hearing gunshots. It was so much and when I saw those who were shooting, they were in camouflage of the army and the police, I thought it was the police and the army that were exchanging gunfire, it was later we discovered that they could be armed robbers. When we learnt that they were armed robbers, we had to stay where we were, they had captured so many vehicles, they had blocked the road in front and we had to stay and they started searching every vehicles.

When they got to my vehicle, I gave them what was with me at that time, which was a small amount of money. I gave it to them and they left. They said we should lie down and I complied. But, in a twinkle of an eye, some of them came, and said “where is Oga, where is Oga” and as they were saying where is Oga, they saw me where I was lying down beside the car, they said: “Na you be the owner of this car?” and I said yes because at that point, with gun pointed at your head there was no way you won’t obey.

That was when they told me to stand up, they just held me by the waist and started dragging me into the bush and when I wanted to resist, they gave me a dirty slap, in fact, my eyes turned blue and I had to obey and follow them. At that initial level, they dragged me into the bush, and they said I should stand up and be walking. They held me by the waist and I was following them. A lot of things were coming into my mind, I said could they be ritualists? After all they had taken money, why are they doing what they were doing? We walked for about 30 minutes into the bush, and then they asked me to stop.

Three other people were brought to the same spot and one of my captors said I should stand up and walk into the bush, and I felt if I stood up and walk into the bush, if he shot me from the back , that is death, I refused, I said no, he repeated the order, I said no. He had a cutlass in his hand and he used the flat side of the cutlass to beat me at the back, I refused to move. One of them came and said “leave him, leave him, don’t bother him”. After about 30 minutes, we started the journey into the bush, we left where we were kept by 8pm and walked inside the bush. I was walking barefooted because my shoe, everything had been removed.

By 1:30am, we arrived at a spot and when we got to that spot, they shared the money. At 4.00am they said we should be on the move and we started another journey till 11:30am that same day, we were walking inside the bush, we climbed a mountain, we descended the mountain, we climbed another mountain and we descended and they now took us to a place like a ditch, they put us there and we were down there and they said this is where we were going to stay and we stayed there till the following day again. It was that day that they first talked to us.

One of them came to me and asked, “How much do you have” I said I don’t have money , he asked again, “How much is in your bank account”. I said there is no money in my bank account that if you want to know, my phone is with you, bring my phone I can check my account there and you will see my balance there. He said okay, “Who do you know that can give you money to bail you out ?” He said my ransom was N20million.

When we were in the bush in the night I had my governorship aspiration complimentary card, I had a rubber band, that had my picture and my name on it. I tried to remove it and while we were still in the bush the previous night, I hid it underneath some leaves, because I didn’t want them to know my identity, because knowing my identity could prove a problem. When they asked, I said okay, I have people I can call, let me call my son, they said okay, they gave me my phone and said call your son, and what I did was that, when they gave me the phone, I was trying to send a message to my son instead of calling, they just took the phone from me.

After sometimes they came back, and were the ones negotiating, the only time they called my attention was to come and tell me: “Your people are not cooperating” and because of that, they would threaten me. One of them could put dagger on my neck,  and ask me to tell them that I was about to be killed now, so that they could get the money. I was there believing in God that by the grace of God, we are going to be released. I was very fervent in my prayers, and I was fasting and I believed that God is merciful.

To their credit, they gave us food, and the only food they gave us was bread, they gave us bread, I didn’t eat because I was fasting and I wanted to fast, but there was no water, I requested for coke, they now brought coke the following day, and gave me one bottle which I drank in the night after breaking my fast, I drank it, I didn’t eat the bread.

What happened is that, you don’t sleep in one place twice, after leaving that deep pit. We were always moved in the night , nobody moved you in the morning. The third day, they moved us in the night around 7.00pm, we moved and moved from 7pm till around 1.00am, we were trekking inside the bush before we now got to a mountain and there you could see Kwali and Gwagwalada.
By 4.00pm on Wednesday, came the cheering news from them, that my ransom has been paid and the ransom of the Chairman, Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, had also been paid and that, that day, we should be prepared for release. I heaved a sigh of relief that after all, these people were going to free us today. I was almost dehydrated.

By 6:30am, they said we should go, they said we are going to town and they brought us from there and we got to a place where we were released by 12:30. They actually called my people, my people came in .