The abducted passengers of the Niger State Transport Authority bus, who regained freedom from bandits on Sunday, have narrated their ordeals.
The travellers told journalists that the bandits’ ammunition was “out of this world”, adding that they had never seen such sophisticated weapons in their lives.
They stated these in separate interviews with journalists in Minna on Monday, recalling that their experiences were terrible and horrible.
According to Daily Trust, one of them, Hajia Jummai Isah, said, “They were threatening us and beating the men. They really beat the hell out of the men, but all they wanted from us was money. They kept demanding money from us so that they would spare us. If not, they said they would kill us. They used to give us dirty water to drink from the stream.
“Their ammunition is out of this world. I’d never seen that kind of arms before in my life. They have different kinds of assorted weapons.”
Muhammed Kindagi, a civil servant with the Niger State Science and Technical School Board, said, “If we ate in the morning, we wouldn’t eat another one till evening, with contaminated water to drink.
“We were sleeping on bare floors in the bush. We were not tied, but guns were pointed at our heads and they were beating us constantly every day.
“They beat our women too. There was one useless one among them who didn’t bother whether you’re a woman or a man before he started beating you. They beat us with sticks. As they’re beating us, they’re asking us to bring money.
“They asked us to forgive them and we said we forgave them. We asked them to forgive us too so that we could leave the bush.”
Another freed passenger, Hamza Muhammed Buhari, said, “They starved us because they only gave us a handful of food that was not enough. We cooked rice with contaminated water, while about ten of us took a bottle of contaminated water. We were tortured daily. It was indeed bad and terrible.”
The freed passengers had been taken to the hospital for treatment.
Meanwhile, the 27 students, three staff members and family members of Government Science College, Kagara, Niger State abducted last Wednesday were still in captivity as of the time of filing this report.
