The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has rescued seven persons abducted along Nasarawa Eggon-Akwanga Road on Aug. 20 in Nasarawa State.
Mr Mohammed Fari, the state Commandant of the corps, made this known to newsmen on Tuesday in Lafia.
Fari said that his officers rescued the victims from the base of a mountain around Wulko village near Akwanga on Monday night.
He said the victims, comprising five men and two women, were rescued unhurt.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the abductors said to be in military uniform had also attacked the convoy of the Nasarawa State Deputy Governor, Dr Emmanuel Akabe, along Nasarawa Eggon-Akwanga Road on his way to Abuja.
Three policemen attached to the convoy and two other civilians were killed in the operation by the same suspected gang that kidnapped the seven persons.
According to Fari, the abductors abandoned their victims when they got wind of the presence of NSCDC officials in the area.
Meanwhile, Mr Yakubu Gumjere, one of the victims narrated their ordeal in the hands of the kidnappers.
Gumjere said that he was on his way to Akwanga when the armed men picked him up at a popular location known as “Many have gone” along Nasarawa Eggon-Akwanga Road.
He said six other persons were also abducted by the armed men, who were in military uniforms.
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“We were taken into the bush and ordered to lie down with someone guarding us with a gun while they returned to the road.
“We later heard gunshots, which lasted for a while before the armed men returned and ordered us to start trekking.
“They came back with additional riffles, which they claimed were gotten from the police.
“We trekked from about 7 p.m until about 2 a.m the next day before we got to their hideout in the mountains. It took us about three hours to climb the mountain,” he said.
He added that: “We (victims) are fed with garri and crushed maggi seasoning during our eight days stay with them.
Gumjere said the 11 armed men had sophisticated weapons and a large cache of ammunition, adding that the abductors quickly relocated them to the inner part of the rock when they heard the sound of a chopper.
He explained that the abductors contacted their families and collected ransom from six of them and pardoned the seventh victim.
“They told us that they collected over N1 million each from two of us, and various sums from the others and had to pardon one of us whose family was not forthcoming.
“They were so familiar with the terrain to the extent that the movement at night was effortless to them.
“According to them, they have been in the state for about a month.
“They were bringing us to the base of the mountain around Wulko village when they got information about the presence of the NSCDC and had to abandon us and fled,” Gumjere said. [PUNCH]
