A Nigerian Law School student, David Obiora, who was kidnapped alongside others on the night of July 26, 2025, has clarified that their abductors were Tiv indigenes from Benue State, and not Fulani as widely speculated.
In a interview,Obiora recounted his ordeal, refuting claims by the Nigeria Police that he and five other students were rescued by security operatives in Benue State.
Obiora, a law student at the Nigerian Law School’s Yola campus, explained that they were abducted along the Zakibiam-Mukari Expressway after boarding a company’s transport vehicle from Onitsha en route to Yola.
“We were six law students in the bus with the driver, three other passengers heading to Cameroon, and a woman working in Anambra who was going on holiday to Yola.
“We were kidnapped around 9 p.m. on the 26th of July. The incident happened between Zakibiam and Mukari, near a town called Jootar. We were taken 20 kilometers into the bush by about ten armed men, four wielding AK-47 rifles, the others with machetes and daggers.
“They drove the bus deep into the bush until it got stuck. They then called for reinforcement, and more members arrived on motorcycles. We were moved deeper into the forest before arriving at a halt, where we met four other victims , a non-teaching staff of Federal University Wukari, a youth corps member named Dauda Wisdom, a pastor who had just undergone surgery in Benue, and another unidentified man. We were held for six days before we were released after each of us paid N10 million in ransom.”
He stressed, “Let the record be clear, the Nigeria Police did not rescue us. The Law School did not rescue us. The Council of Legal Education did not rescue us. We were released after our families and friends raised and paid the ransom.”
Obiora further revealed that the kidnappers were mainly Tiv-speaking locals, with possibly one or two silent Fulani accomplices. “Their boss is named Matthew. He’s either a dismissed soldier or a deserter. All the others spoke Tiv , that is their language. They are from the same community where we were held. It seems the entire community has been overpowered or subdued. No one dares speak out.
“Children as young as 2 to 3 years old were playing with guns in front of us. The bandits cocked their rifles in front of these children like it was normal. We were even brought out in the open, where these kids could see us.
“Their wives were the ones cooking for us, fetching water for us , mud water. The same food we ate was what the kidnappers ate too.”
According to Obiora, one of the kidnappers, also named David, boasted about being in the kidnapping business for over nine years. “He told us he hasn’t been home in years. He claimed to have bought a Highlander SUV and another car for his wife, who now drives both. His children are in school and live well. But he cannot furnish or visit his own house because he’s a wanted man. He said they’re already marked and just doing business until they are caught.
“Matthew their boss on the other hand told us he has a ‘juju’ man in Kano who gives him spiritual protection. He said the army can’t kill him unless it’s the day God says he’ll die. He believed the ‘juju’ man would subdue any army that came after him.”
Obiora also described the terrifying moment they were abducted: “When they hijacked our bus, my initial thought was that it was Fulani, as usual. But their dialect and appearance confirmed they were Tiv. I was scared. It was my first experience, and I thought we would be killed. But they assured us they wouldn’t kill us.
“When we met the earlier abductees, they had been there for 22 days and also confirmed the captors don’t kill. That was when my mind calmed down. “Still, the conditions were terrible. We ate only once a day, and the food was unhealthy. We drank muddy water, the kind you wouldn’t use to wash a car. We were being cooked for by the ladies in the community”.
After their release, Obiora said the victims trekked for hours through dense bush paths from Benue into Taraba, eventually finding their way to a restaurant near a motor park. There, they spent the night and later linked up with a transport company manager who helped them continue their journey to Yola.
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