I started this blog in 2015, in February to be precise. That was the month I published the very first post on the blog.
However, before that moment, I had created the WordPress account on impulse way back like four months earlier.
At that time, I knew next to nothing about blogging in general and niche blogging in particular. But I had a clear purpose of what I wanted to achieve with the blog.
And as basic as that meal was, we ate it with thanks while hoping for the best – that we would soon breathe an air of freedom again. Little did we know what else the kidnappers’ had in mind.
An offer to the other hostages
As two representatives of my family set out from home on the journey to deliver the ransom to my captors, the kingpin turned to the other two hostages in the camp and made them an offer.
“You, talk to your family again,” he said to them. “If they can make up the ransom raised so far to five million Naira and are able to bring the money to meet up with the time this guy’s family (pointing to me) will be delivering their own money to us, we will release you together with him. If it exceeds today, you will have to pay the full ransom to regain your freedom.”
I was elated to hear the offer to the other hostages: another reduction of the ransom demand – from ten million Naira demand to five million…
While I was there thinking about my regaining my freedom and the articles I would write thereafter, the weather began to change dramatically. The thick gathering cloud was a sure sign of impending heavy rain.
The heavy downpour of the previous day made my body suffer a lot under the harsh weather. Will that kind of physical suffering continue today again? “Oh God, please have mercy,” I prayed.
Let there be no rain again, Lord
Before I knew it, the forest environment had become dim. The rays of the Sun were no more penetrating through the foliages with their bright lights as they previously did.
All the weather signs showed that another heavy down downpour was imminent. And I wasn’t ready for the severe cold the change in weather could bring.
My mind went back to the heavy rains that fell the previous day which made us suffer untold hardship. Another rain in the forest would mean that our suffering under the treacherous weather would continue in the present day.
The thought of that alone made me feel immensely uncomfortable. So I had to pray an emergency prayer:
“God, we suffered so much yesterday because of the rains. Please don’t let that suffering continue today. Let there be no rain again till we leave this place.”
As usual, the phone was set on speaker mode, so everyone on ground was in on the conversation I had with my wife. It was that conversation that reminded me of something that made me have a moment to shed some tears that morning. But then I would soon realise that crying while being held hostage can earn you multiple slaps on the head.
Why I shed some tears
Something dawned on me a as I finished talking with my wife on the phone that morning: that Thursday was when my late elder brother would be lying in state at our family compound before the final interment, on the same day.
I was meant to be there in flesh and blood to pay him my last respect and also join my other siblings to give him a befitting burial. But there I was in a thick forest far away from home, held against my will by AK-47 gun-wielding Fulani men who think that taking people hostage for ransom payment is a proud business to make a living from.
“So I will not be there to witness the burial of my late brother who was like a father to me?” I soliloquized.
After dishing out the unsolicited pieces of advice, the kidnappers mandated the so-called good-for-nothing-man with his driver to escort the Papa out of the forest. Hopefully, they would lead him till he reunites with his family and then both of them can walk to their freedom as well. We, the three remaining hostages, bade them farewell while our own fate still hanged in the balance.
Time to share the booty
Thanks to the huge ransom collected on the papa’s head, the kidnappers were visibly delighted and they became more favourably disposed towards us. They began talking to us in warmer tones than before, telling us that if our families would cooperate with them just like the Papa’s family did, we too would regain our freedom.
They didn’t have any wild celebrations after collecting the ransom. Perhaps, they felt it wasn’t time to celebrate yet or they wanted to remain focused on their mission of collecting ransom from all the remaining hostages. Either way, they were fully in control of the situation.
Christmas is by far one of the most celebrated events every year. But if you take a closer look at it, you will observe that many people who celebrate Christmas often forget one vital thing about it.
What is that one important thing people always miss out from the Christmas celebration? I will get to that in a moment. But first, let’s take a look at how people celebrate Christmas.
How do people celebrate Christmas?
Just like most people, I knew from childhood that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. But the whole essence of celebrating it was lost on me until I grew older.
As far as I was concerned then, Christmas was mostly about my parents buying special clothes for me, eating favourite meals (usually richer than one would eat on ordinary days), visiting family and friends, and receiving gifts.
As the rains subsided, we became relieved of the massive cold we were experiencing. The rays of the Sun began to sift through the canopies of the trees towering above us unto the forest floors. And we felt warm in our bodies as the wet clothes clinging tightly to our frames began to dry out.
When the ransom was reduced
The leader of the kidnappers’ gang started to engage us in more conversations while the rest of them kept guard over us with their AK-47s consistently pointed at us as the stench of their cigarette smoking pervaded the air.
Surprisingly, he left the circle of his fellow kidnappers and sat a few feet away from where we were, talking to us in turns. The Papa in our midst was the first focus of his attention.
For the rest of the day, negotiations continued between the kidnappers on one side and the respective families of the hostages on the other.
In the meantime, we had some avenues to steal some more conversations amongst ourselves, one of which was concerning food.
Is there no food in the kidnappers den?
I asked one of the guys whom we were told were kidnapped before us, “Have these people (referring to the kidnappers) given you anything to eat since they held you?”
“No,” he replied to me. “We have not eaten since they kidnapped us.”
From what I gathered from the kidnappers, this guy with the other two men was kidnapped on Saturday. That was two days before we were kidnapped on Monday afternoon.
“Despite the dawning of a new day, I continued to lie facedown but remained fully aware of the goings-on in the environment, waiting to dance to whatever music the kidnappers would play for us next.”
“It’s time to call your wife”
That early morning, the kidnappers made all hostages call their families and friends in respect of the ransom amount they demanded on each of us. The other hostages were first attended to before it came to my turn.
I would later realise that the kidnappers didn’t use their own phone lines to contact the families of their hostages; they made use of the phones of their victims.
My phone had been taken from me since the previous day, so I had lost any hope of ever having it back with me again. Other hostages were also dispossessed of their phones.
Victors Corner Blog 