According to one of the teachers who was held captive by kidnappers in Oyo State for 56 days, he and the other captives were freed by their captors prior to the arrival of security officers to transport them back to their homes.
In a phone interview with Nigeria Info FM, Zacchaeus Olatunde, a teacher who was saved with students kidnapped from schools in Oyo State’s Oriire Local Government Area, talked about his experience.
Olatunde claimed that during their time with the abductors, he and the other prisoners were blindfolded, making it impossible for them to know where they were being held.
He claimed that they started to question whether they had been forgotten because the circumstances were so unclear.
“It is difficult to say on air, but I will just say what I can. When we were there, we were blindfolded, not an ordinary blindfold. We didn’t even know if we were in Nigeria or another country. We were just there. We were saying maybe the government had even forgotten us,” he said.
According to the teacher, the kidnappers claimed to be members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and spoke Hausa, Nupe, English, and Yoruba.
“They said they are not Boko Haram. They said they are ISWAP. I was the last person who was captured in the school and I was the last person that was released,” he said.
Olatunde claimed that although their meals were scarce, the abductors fed them at that time.
He clarified that during their imprisonment, they were fed rice, tiny amounts of beans, onions, margarine, and salt, but they were not allowed to taste pepper.
“In terms of feeding, those people really tried for us, to be sincere. Right from the day we were abducted, they told us on the way that if we cooperated and the government cooperated, there would be no problem,” he said.
He added:
“We were fed twice a day, morning and evening. We ate only rice, little beans, onions, margarine and salt. Throughout our stay there, we did not taste pepper.”
However, he revealed that the teachers endured difficult conditions while in captivity.
“For the 56 days, we the teachers did not bathe. We did not wash our clothes,” he said.
The teacher also said the abductors initially restricted their religious activities.
“When we got there, they told us not to pray. After about a month, they allowed us to pray, but they warned us not to mention the name of Jesus and not to pray aloud,” he said.
Olatunde said their freedom came unexpectedly after the kidnappers’ commander informed them that they had been released.
“Until the last day when their commander came and was smiling and laughing and said we should thank God that we had been freed. The next thing they said was that we should open our eyes,” he said.
He explained that he became the last person to leave because the key to his handcuffs had broken.
“When they released us, everybody had gone. They said I could not carry the handcuff home because the key had broken. One of them suggested they should cut off my hand, but another said no. They later used a small rope to remove the handcuff,” he said.
Olatunde said he later faced another frightening moment when the kidnappers’ commander called him back at gunpoint.
“Their commander called me back. He pointed a gun at me and said, ‘Come.’ I thought I was going to die because I was the only one left in the bush. He asked where I was going, and when I said I didn’t know, he showed me the correct route and told me to follow where the others had passed,” he said.
The teacher said the former captives trekked through the forest before they were assisted with motorcycles.
“We trekked for about 40 minutes to one hour before they provided motorcycles that took us close to the nearest village. They later stopped and told us they could not go further, so we trekked for another one and a half hours before we got to where the government people who came to rescue us were,” he said.
He said the group initially feared the people who came to rescue them because of their appearance and language.
“When we saw the buses, we were afraid because the people were speaking Hausa. We even asked them to show us their identity cards. They kept assuring us that the government sent them.