Kidnapped Reverend Father Narrates His Ordeal

Lucky Reverend Father Emmanuel Akingbade who was kidnapped on June 9 , but regained freedom on June 15, has opened up on his ordeal in the custody of his abductors.

In a chat at the Bishop’s House of the Ekiti Catholic Diocese in Ajilosun area of Ado-Ekiti, Father Akingbade said his ab­ductors had him locked up in a dark room for six days, adding that they fed him like anyone would feed his dog.

Describing his experience as a story of graduating from darkness to light, he said: “ It has been a long story of moving from darkness to light and for us Christians, it is a story that has given meaning to our faith.

Narrating further on his ordeal, regarding the operations of the abductors, he said:

“It was an experience of one camp, two worlds. I was in my own world in the dark room where I was locked and there was another world among the abductors. Most of the time, I was the one making effort to speak with them. Asking them for what I want; ‘please I need water, please help to open the door for ventilation’. And from their own conversation, I discovered that they too were human beings like us, for example, they have their own girl friends and they call them and discuss with them. They tell them they were at work. They always tell their people on phone that they were in business, ‘I would see you tomorrow or next’ and things like that. 

“About feeding, they gave me bread, pure water, spaghetti and indomie and they also gave me eba. And the only proteinous food I ate there was frog. They were ready to feed me three times a day, at least two times. Initially, they fed me like anybody would feed his dog. They were feeding me with the cover of plastic buckets. They gave me too much rice and I had to let them know that I only needed to eat small food. The best meal I had there was eba and that was on Saturday. I would have loved to eat much of that eba but they gave me small he said.