We do not often talk enough about the psychological trauma carried by victims of kidnapping.
Some months ago, I met a Catholic priest who had just been released after spending more than a month in captivity. Physically, he was free. But emotionally and psychologically, the experience was still haunting him.
You could not make sudden loud noises around him. Every sharp sound startled him because, to his mind, it felt like gunfire all over again. Fear had settled deeply into his nervous system. At the time, he was already undergoing therapy to help him recover from the trauma.
Sometimes, when we discuss kidnapping, we focus only on the period of captivity and ransom. But many victims continue suffering long after they regain their freedom. Some return home alive, yet deeply wounded within.
This is why insecurity is not just a political issue. It is also a human and psychological crisis.
My mum wasn’t in the UK but there’s nothing she didn’t do to keep herself healthy. Very fit, never overweight, I even had more weight than her.
Resist the urge to preach with people’s deaths.
Sometimes especially in the immediate time, your condolences is what the family needs.
I remember one time one clown on here which I am sure will see this tweet messaged me one time to ‘sponsor his wedding’
Throughout school we have never spoken
I responded to him that I sadly can’t come in and this clown unfollowed me and since then has made it a duty to always drag me anytime Twitter comes for me.
Everyday I sit down and ask myself why? Because Kene didn’t sponsor his wedding…
Wedding oh? When no be say na me Dey marry or say we be guys.
A light skinned worthless loser from college of medicine, luth . Idiaraba (Luth) and a dentist by the way.
A BIG FOOL.
Becoming the kind of person who will be trusted with $5.5M requires determination, bro. No one is giving you such money (in this climate) based on vibe.
Yes, by the 10th day of our captivity, my family had already paid my ransom. Sadly, the driver's family could not raise the ₦15 million the bandits' leader was demanding. They were only able to gather ₦2 million, with support from the company we worked for.
When they informed the bandits about the ₦2 million, the leader became furious. He said, "What is ₦2 million? ₦2 million is not money. If this money doesn't reach 10 million or 5 million, wallahi, I go kill am for driver."
At that moment, we knew he was serious.
Right before my eyes, he shot the driver twice one bullet hit his chest, and another hit the side of his stomach. I was sitting right beside him when it happened. The fear was overwhelming. I urinated on myself. I thought I would be next.
After killing him, the bandit leader ordered me and another Tife boy to carry his body and dump it in a nearby bush. We had no choice. We dragged his lifeless body through the forest and left him where we were told. It is a moment that still haunts me to this day.
When we returned, the bandit leader ordered everyone to move immediately. That same day, we trekked for hours deeper into the forest to another location.
That was how the driver's story ended.
I will never forget what I witnessed that day. The sound of the gunshots, the fear, the helplessness, and the pain are memories that will stay with me forever. 💔