The day Salis Manaja, a multimedia journalist with Image Merchants Promotion Limited (IMPR), publishers of PRNigeria and Economic Confidential, regained his freedom from kidnappers, about 40 other persons were reportedly abducted along the Benue–Kogi corridor.
The journalist was released on Wednesday.
Manaja was among 25 passengers earlier kidnapped by gunmen while travelling from Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, to Ilorin, Kwara State, to attend IMPR’s annual Young Communication Fellowship.
All passengers in the vehicle he boarded were taken away, and his family later paid a ransom for his release.
A source close to the journalist said, “But basically, we paid N2.5 million as ransom. They took away all his belongings, including phones, a laptop, and work equipment. He is now home safely and undergoing medical attention.”
According to the source, all the passengers were kidnapped without any specific target.
“And he was not the only one kidnapped. All the passengers, about 25 of them in the vehicle he was travelling in, were abducted at random,” the source said.
The victims reportedly endured severe physical torture and endless movements on foot to avoid detection by security agencies.
“He and other victims were tortured and ransomed in varying sums demanded. They kept changing locations on foot to evade authorities. There was a day they trekked to a new location all through the night, covering many kilometres,” the source said.
“The day he was released, there were about 40 new abductions.”
According to the source, “the kidnappers reportedly made N67 million on the set of the abductees Salis was in”.
“They kept dilly-dallying before they finally collected it some kilometres away from a place called ‘Branch’ in Benue State,” the source said.
“We took the ransom to Lokoja, but the abductors refused to come forward. They now agreed to meet in Enugu. We went to Enugu, yet they refused to show up. Eventually, it was a place between Lokoja and Benue, I think.”
“He was severely subjected to physical assault, but thankfully, there were no visible external injuries on him after his release; however, he is undergoing medical attention to be sure there are no internal injuries either,” the source added.
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