The University of Abuja staff have continued to share their experiences days after their release from captivity.
The University posted below the experiences;
Malam Sambo Mohammed’s experience
Our rescued staff are taking stock and sharing their experiences in the hands of gunmen who abducted them in the early hours of Tuesday 2nd November 2021 from the University Quarters.
- APGA in early lead as INEC extends Anambra voting exercise to Sunday
- Ex-British PM, Tony Blair, pledges to mobilise global support for Zamfara
One of them, Malam Sambo Mohammed, a deputy registrar, speaks briefly with the University of Abuja page.
He says, “It was a very painful experience, I must tell you. Some times the boys hit you hard where you never expected, they kicked and shouted at you. We walked several kilometres in the bush, crossing streams and rivers, and finding ourselves where we never imagined.
It is the height of man’s inhumanity to man. At a point, they threatened to kill us if they did not get the ransome they were asking for.
I thank Allah that we are free at last without any severe harm, without the payment of any ransome.
I thank the security operatives who worked closely with our safety officers; council chairman, Professor Ahmed Modibbo Mohammed, vice-chancellor, Professor Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, and others too numerous to mention. I thank my family, I thank everyone who has shown concern and care during our travails in the hands of our abductors.
I have never felt so humiliated, Professor Bassey
In the early hours of Tuesday 2nd November 2021, when the gunmnen stormed his house at the University Quaters, Professor Bassey Ubom, popularly known as Oboskolo, was fast enough to escape. When he returned, he was confronted with the stark reality of the gunmen’s unwanted visit: they had left with his wife ( who was released immediately), his nine-year-old son and daughter.
Recalling the incident, he says, ” it is not an experience you would wish for your worst enemy. I have never been so humiliated in my life. And it was painful knowing that you are here and your loved ones are in the forest with criminal elements.
At a point you thought may be you should not have escaped from them. With the benefit of hindsight, I now know that God had a hand in my escape because I had to be here to rally the others whose loved ones have been kidnapped, consoling them and above all, getting involved in high level negotiation with those elements, who were asking for outrageous ransome.
The experience we went through in the hands of those abductors can only be better imagined. To be so humiliated, and yet helpless is pathetic. What my kids went through is to say the least callous and inhuman. I mean for a nine- year-old boy to be subjected to that kind of physical and psychological assault is evil. But our people worked, prayed, and we are grateful that God has answered us. We thank all the security operatives who jointly helped to rescue our members.
We thank our inimitable vice-chancellor, Professor Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, our compassionate council chairman, Professor Ahmed Modibbo Mohammed, the chief safety officer of the University, friends, colleagues and well wishers who never left us during this trying times. We are happy with you all. God bless you.”
