I knew I was in trouble the moment the driver wind up the glasses, and I was pushed to the ground, said a Nigerian lady, Bamidupe Eunice Modupe, who shared her awful experience with kidnappers when she boarded a vehicle in the Ifako area of Lagos.
In a recent interview with OsunDailyNG, Modupe revealed that she was kidnapped on Friday, June 16, 2023, after she boarded a vehicle on her way to her office.
The single mother narrated her painful experience, hoping that Nigerians can learn from the event, more importantly, so security authorities can act swiftly to apprehend the perpetrators so others would not suffer the same faith.
The kidnapping incident at Ifako became a thing of concern as more people, aside from Modupe, were said to have been kidnapped and tortured in the same manner as the latter who a ransom was paid for her release.
From her narration and testimony from residents of the area, one may be right to say that the crime is being perpetrated by the particular syndicate who have mastered their plans and are silently taking advantage of unsuspicious citizens.
Read Modupe’s story below and how the state police command responded to the situation.
“Yeah, on the 16th of June, on my way to work, I got a car from the Ifako bus stop. It was about 5 minutes after six on that day, and then I saw a car.
“There were two guys in the front, a driver and another. Then two guys at the back dressed like they were going to work with their black bags on their necks, like the usual thing I see every morning when going to work. So in my head, they were going to work.
“So I said Golden Gate, and I was told to enter. Then I asked for the price, and the driver said N400. I was like, I have N1,000; hope say you get change?’ The guy was like yeah, enter. So I entered.
“The moment I entered, the first thing I noticed was the driver’s face because every morning, when I get into a car or a bus, I always look at the driver’s face—just my thing.
“So, when I looked at the driver’s face, I was like, driver yi… O jo ole (he looked like a robber).
“It just came to my mind, and I was like, Eunice, don’t judge people by their looks. So I closed the door.
“When I was about to get into the car, the glasses were down. So the moment I entered the car, closed the door… the driver just wind-up.
“And usually, when I see that, I always shout to the driver and ask him to wind down, informing him that I don’t need your A.C. just for safety. But you know, the guy winds up, and the first thing I noticed after he did that was that the glasses at the back were tinted, and the ones in the front were not.
I Knew I Was In Trouble At This Point
Modupe said at a point; she knew she was in trouble. Regretting not carefully studying the vehicle before boarding it, she said: “If I actually saw that before entering the car, of course, I won’t enter. So immediately, I noticed that he was about to drive out of the park. I held the door to try to open it. At that point, I do not even mind getting injured, you know. Because I felt something was wrong immediately, the glasses were winded up. And immediately, the guy beside me saw my hand; he just jumped on me and pushed me to the middle of the car on the floor, and at that time, I knew I was in trouble.
“So they pushed me into the floor of the car where they always put the foot mat. And the guy sitting at the other side held me, and they held my legs up and was hitting me… threatened to kill me if I make any move or shout.
“They said an Alhaji needed parts, and if I made any move, they would just kill me immediately and sell my body parts, saying that human beings do not mean anything to them. So they held my body down and pressed me on my stomach, where I had surgery. While the other pinned my neck down and my legs up. They were hitting me also with a rod.
“I was like, please, please take whatever you want and don’t kill me. They threatened me to bring all my phones out, an iPhone and a Samsung and asked me to unlock them, which I did. Immediately they used one white clothe robbed with Aboniki balm to cover my face.
“So there was no way I could see their faces even though I tried to do, to at least see what one of them looked like. So while I was trying to do that, one of them, the one hitting my leg, noticed, and he continuously beat me and tried to get me to go restless and paralyze me. He was slapping me the more I begged, saying I was talking too much.
“After unlocking my phone, they saw my accounts, Access, GTB, and First Bank. At the back of my phones, they saw my bank cards, Gtb and First Bank… So the next thing they said where is your pin, USSD and all. I told them I had no card for my Access bank account, and immediately they transferred the money from the Access account to my GTBank and they used my ATM card to withdraw money from a POS point. So they withdrew the First money with the bank’s card at the back of my phone.
“While they were doing that, they said the money would not be enough. In my mind, I thought it was just a ‘one chance’. But immediately, they said I should call somebody, and they were already demanding ransom. At that time, it dawned on me that it was a kidnapping and not ‘one chance’.
“I was like nobody that they should please take everything. So when they pushed me down, the one hitting my leg with a rod started pressing my br3ast… So I was like, please, please. I thought the guy wanted to rape me… And he said keep shut, ‘wetin you dey think? na gold I dey find… I know say you women dey keep things’
“So when he pressed and saw that I didn’t hide anything there, he left me and said I should call somebody. In the process, they saw another account on my phone. It was my friend’s account; she does not stay in Nigeria.
“In his GTbank account, they saw N900,000. The reason why they saw that on my phone is that the person used my phone number to open the account. So I receive alerts anytime he sends something to the account. So I told them it was not my account and I did not have access to the account, and neither could the person at that time. So they saw that there was no way we could get into the account.
“So they asked me to call somebody to rescue me, and immediately, I called my sister, my her phone wasn’t going through. Later it went through, and when she picked up, I put the phone on speaker, and she was told to send money, or else they will kill me.
“So she had me crying, and my sister was like, please, please don’t do anything to her; what do you want? She asked, and they told her to send N500,000. At first, they asked her to send N1,000,000. She pleaded and told them she only had N200,000 at the moment.
“Immediately, they asked her to send the money to my bank account number, which they forced me to give them. My sister pleaded with them that she would send them more but that they shouldn’t hurt me. While that was going on, asked for my First Bank account pin, and I mistakenly gave them the wrong pin because I was already tense.
“Meanwhile, one of them was already withdrawing money from my account from a POS point. At that point, they beat me seriously, thinking I intentionally gave them the wrong pin. My body was covered in nylon, and I was beaten mercilessly on my leg while I suffered the pain of Aboniki balm on my eyes.”
Alhaji Needs Some Body Parts – The Kidnappers Said
Speaking further on the sad experience, Modupe said she was threatened with death by the gang leader, who told her that a certain Alhaji needed some body parts and they would cut her up and deliver her body parts to him if she refused to cooperate with them.
She said: “At one point, one of them called a certain Alhaji. After their conversation, he told me that he had just communicated with Alhaji, and he said he needed a body part, so I should cooperate and urge my sister to quickly send the balance else they would waste me and give my body parts to Alhaji.
“I tried to see their faces again and see what was happening, but I couldn’t because of the Aboniki. Later, their leader asked me if I was Yoruba, and I said yes. He urged me to cooperate and ask my sister to send the remaining. He said he would release me because of my son, who called while they were torturing me.
“They were speaking some slang, and I could decode some of their slang because I understand pigeon English. So before they got to where they dropped me, they had already told my sister that they were taking me to Ogun State. So my sister already called my office and informed them that I had been kidnapped.
“So before they dropped me off, they said two cars were behind us and that immediately they dropped me, I should just stand up straight and run off. They threatened that if I made any move or shouted, those in the cars behind would shoot me dead.
“When we got to where they dropped me, one of them, acting on their leader’s instruction, again, dipped Aboniki balm into my eyes so I could not see anything. I was crying and groaning until a passerby came to the rescue.
“He held my hand, and when he saw my situation, he nodded that it was the kidnappers that just dropped me. According to him, it was what they did to another lady recently.
“He carried me to the other side of the road, where there were some vulcanizers and a crowd gathered to watch me. They make different efforts so I can see with my eyes but all to no avail. The Aboniki was so much and was hurting.
“I gave them my sister’s number, and they called her and informed her that I had been released. Immediately, she called my brother, who is in the Nigerian Navy, and he came by to pick me up.
“The next day, I couldn’t see with my left eye due to the much Aboniki. I was taken to the clinic for treatment, and gradually, I regained my sight,” Modupe said.
The DPO Was Nice To Me But…
When asked if she reported the incident to the police moment after the kidnappers freed her, Mrs Modupe answered in the affirmative.
Although she noted that she was not too happy with some events at the police division she visited even though the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) gave her audience and responded to her case positively.
She said: “I went to the police station on Monday, July 17, 2023. I am even regretting doing so. Yeah, I tried not to think about the incident again.
“I went to the police on Monday on my way back from work. My experience wasn’t too nice, and with my back-to-back from the hospital, I couldn’t have enough time to be visiting the station for statements here and there.”
You spoke about regretting your visit to the police station. Was it that they didn’t attend to you or what? OsunDailyNG correspondent asked.
Modupe replied, saying: “They attended to me, actually. I even met the DPO; she blamed me where she needed to blame me. Then she said that they get complaints from the same area.
“The DPO was nice, but you know, police, I do not trust the system, I didn’t want to talk about them.”
You mentioned having a brother in the Nigerian Air Force who picked you up moments after they (the kidnappers) dropped you. Did he make any attempt to report the incident on your behalf? “No, we couldn’t go to the station at the time,” Modupe replied.
She added: “He took me to the hospital immediately after visiting the bank to block my account and phone lines.”
How The DPO At Ifako Police Station Responded To The Kidnapping Incidents
Sharing her encounter with the DPO at the Ifako Police Station, Modupe said: “The DPO said she would stop all private cars that enter the park going forward. I reported on Monday, so starting from Tuesday morning, she said that they would arrest any private car henceforth going into the park.”
According to Modupe, the kidnap syndicate have carried out several successful abductions in the area. She also believes that the assailants may have more than one car, “But I just think it is the same group of guys. Because from what the DPO said, they have been reporting such cases linked with a silver car,” she told OsunDailyNG correspondent.
“And from the few people I spoke with, one of my colleagues has had a similar experience for almost two months now. But hers, they just took small money and didn’t request a ransom.
“You know mine, they requested ransom, and they tortured me and withdrew all my money and collected all my properties and others.
“And when my colleague told me, she said they also used a rod to beat her, but they didn’t really torture her that much. But they blindfolded her the same way they treated me.
“Her eye was just getting clear. For myself now, I have just started using glasses to read, which wasn’t the case before.
“So when she told me, I noticed that this could be the same guys.”
Modupe added, saying: “And one other thing, where they dropped me, they dropped me between Agege and Ikeja road. That part, when people ply that road. It is a lone, quiet place.
“And the vulcanizer that rescued me said the people (kidnappers) dropped another lady at the spot a week before that time.
“So it is what they do there every time. So in my head, I was like, why did not body report it to the police and something?”
Meanwhile, when contacted on the matter, Lagos State Police Command spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, showed interest in the event and promised to respond to messages and voice notes (VNs) sent to him by OsunDailyNG.
However, Hundeyin has not replied as at the time of publication.
Recommendations:
OsunDailyNG recommends that the police should investigate the kidnapping incidents happening in the Ifako area of the state, apprehend the perpetrators and make them face the wrath of the law.
The car park(s) in the area should be investigated. Kudos to the DPO at Ifako police station, who has promised to take some actions to contain the situation. However, a thorough investigation needed to be carried out on commercial vehicles operating in the area and also private car owners picking passengers should be carefully monitored and checkmated when fouls are suspected.
Also, residents should be sensitive and careful when they are boarding vehicles to go about their daily routine.
