At this point, all we want to say is to appreciate God for His guidance, for His protection and to also to appreciate the entire Nigerians. The Police have been very wonderful.

The pressure from the Police has actually made this people to release us. There was no breathing space for them. We went for NEC meeting in Uyo and we thought that we should enjoy Nigerian communities, so we had to go by road.

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I actually forced some of my members that we must go by road together. And because we did not know much about the terrain, we decided to go with our colleagues from Delta State. So, they were leading.

We just left a Police check point, just about 50 meters, we saw a car which just came out from the bush. We thought it was going to be an accident, so the other driver of the Delta bus succeeded in maneuvering his way.

Either they killed him, we thought, it was armed robbery. The kind of guns these people were carrying, we could not believe that it could just be ordinary armed robbers.

They allowed the Delta bus to go, the driver maneuvered his way. So, we instructed our driver not to do anything because they have already blocked the road.

And any attempt to do otherwise could be disastrous because of the kind of guns they were holding, they would have killed everybody. So, there on the spot, they ransacked everybody and drove us away. And they asked that we should cover our faces.

So, we covered our eyes. About 10-15 minutes drive, they stopped, ransacked every where, collected everything we had, our money- there and then, they shared every thing (laughter).

I saw my shoes, computers-two of them, one laptop, one hand top and other things.

I saw somebody put on my wrist watch. When they did that, they now drove us a little bit away from that scene and then we entered the bush and they left.

From that time we entered the bush it has been movement, movement, movement. Every 2-3 hours, they moved from the spot you are. The next two hours, you will not be in that spot. On that first day, we were about two hours in a very thick bush before they moved.

We thank God. They did not maltreat anybody. We were not beaten. We ate, although, once in a day. But at least we ate. They gave us water to drink at least once in a day. No maltreatment. It was eight days: no bed, no nothing. You can imagine what it has been like.

What about contacting people outside?

The first thing they did after ransacking us was to ask us to ‘make your contacts, make your contacts. Call somebody. Somebody must come and bail you. And normally the first person we called was our President, Mallam Mohammed Garba and they spoke with him and they were asking for N250 million.

That was the last I head of. Later when nothing was coming, they said call him again, he must come and pay. At a point, I also requested that they must allow us to speak with our families, knowing what our families were going through.

They gave us phone and said I should call my wife. I called her and I said hello, hello, hello. I am sure she never knew it was me before the network went out again. Until this morning when we called our families to tell them we have been released.

Was any ransom paid

We are not sure yet. But they told us that they never collected anything from anybody.’

That they are not after money, that what they were after was that the government was not doing anything for the youths; that roads are terrible, no employment, that the amnesty thing is not working; that they learnt that the federal government gave some money to state governments to give them but that the state governments are saying that it s federal government programme, and things like that.

They said if the thing (amnesty) works, may be some of them will not be in the bush. They said that their grouse is not against anybody, but against the government. That is what they said.

Did you all stay together through out your ordeal?

Yes we were all together through out the period. We actually fasted. We had one day fasting. When they said  they were bringing the money for them, they said they agreed on N30 million, that they have released the N30 million but later detected that the money was marked, that it was the same number all through, so they refused to collect the money and we said look, what is going to happen.

They said you have to call your president, otherwise we will decide what to do. We told them, look, if our people are not doing anything, we are ready to mobilize.

Let us call our families and see if we can raise N5million so that you can release us. They said we should not worry. They changed the group that was with us yesterday evening. So the other group left.

How were you eventually released?

A: The came this morning around 1.30 – 2 am. We found our way out. Five or seven other people came with machines. They said, look, we are releasing you, not because we have collected anything, and we are not after money but that there is bad governance.

So, they said we should go. They now carried us to a point and said we should cover our eyes. They drove us to somewhere around a market at about 3 am. We were so scared.

So, we had to lie down in the market, hearing voices. We did not see anything. So, we did not know how to come out. When it was around 6 am, we decided to come out. We saw a gentle man who was washing his clothes just very close to the market.

We told him. He exclaimed ah! And he asked us to sit down. We were still scared because we never knew who he was. He said we should come in. We said no; let us just sit outside here.

So, we sat out side. Fortunately for us, a man walked by, I think he is the chairman of that community. We called him, the man said thank God. And all the people who live there came out and the man now called the Police Commander.

Where were you kept?

We were kept in the bush and the rains were beating us.

Our captors remained with us. They blind folded us and when the want to lead us to a new location, we will hold each others hands. If you fall, that is your business.

what did they take from you?

Every thing. The  money they got from us is about N3 million. They shared every thing.

What is your message?

To thank God and appreciate the Nigerian Police. From what we saw there, the government must adequately equip the Nigerian Police. I pity those men (Police) even when they came this morning, I pity them. When the boys came out to engage them, they will kill some of them. The boys were holding military weapons.

I wonder if the Police had met us in the bush and engaged them. So, the government must properly equip the police. They must have bullets..