VIDEO: Victim shares how kidnappers attacked Kogi bus, demanded N100m ransom

A rescued victim of the Kogi State highway attack, Victor Anyichie, has shared how kidnappers ambushed his bus. They took the passengers deep into the bush and demanded ransoms in millions of naira before security forces saved them.

Anyichie gave his account in a video shared by News Central on Monday. This came after a joint security team, including the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Nigeria Police Force, vigilantes, and local hunters, rescued the abducted passengers.

The attack happened on Sunday, August 9, 2026. Suspected kidnappers targeted commuters along the Ojuwo, Ajengo, Memarebo and Ojiwo, Itobe roads in Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State.

The Army later confirmed that all 16 victims were rescued. This group included six adult males, six adult females, and four children. Security forces engaged the kidnappers in a gun battle to free them.

Describing the attack, Anyichie said the kidnappers came out from the bush after a red Toyota Yaris drove close to their bus. He said, "When he passed the bus, that was when those guys, that Toyota Yaris, now turned and the boys started coming out from the bushes."

He recounted that more than six armed men came from the bush. The leader fired an AK-47 as they attacked. "One of them, I will always recognise his face, even if I’m sleeping. He was the one with the AK-47 shooting up. He was their leader," Anyichie said.

Anyichie noted that the driver tried to escape into the bush. But the attackers took them and their bus deep into the forest. "They took us from there, our bus inside the bush, far away. We were going very, very far. But inside that bush, we could be hearing buses passing," he recounted.

He said the kidnappers kept moving the victims from one place to another. They could hear security sirens and gunshots in the distance. "We were hearing sirens outside around eight, nine. So I was telling my guys, maybe these things are rescue guys because we heard like two gunshots that night," he said.

Anyichie also claimed that the kidnappers had informants. They kept relocating the victims to avoid security forces. "They were moving us from here to here, here to here. Even this morning, they moved us from where we were yesterday to the present place," he said.

The kidnappers later assigned ransom amounts to the victims. They instructed them to contact their families for payment. "They were telling us, you, 100,000. You, 100 million. You, 17 million. You, 15 million. The children, 20 million," he said.

Anyichie was among those asked to contact their relatives. He told the kidnappers his family could raise about N500,000 or more. "That was when those guys beat my life. But all the same, that glory belongs to God," he said.

He said the rescue operation happened before they could arrange further ransom payments. "God came for the rescue. We are rescued swiftly, like no scratch on our bodies," Anyichie said.

He added that one victim who tried to escape got caught and hurt by the kidnappers. "Only the guy that tried to escape yesterday from them, that they caught his hand. But it wasn’t a good experience for anybody, and it will never be a good experience for nobody," he added.

The rescue followed a joint operation launched after security agencies learned that the victims had been moved towards Adumu Community in Dekina Local Government Area. The Army stated that the security team fought with the fleeing kidnappers, forcing them to leave the captives and flee into the forest with gunshot wounds.

One local hunter died during the operation. A police officer was injured and is getting medical treatment.