How I escaped death after being abducted by Soldiers — Benue tax official
Mr. Abubu Aondoakaa works with the Benue Internal Revenue, Service, BIRS as a Barrier Assistant. He is currently groaning in pains at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, BSUTH, after being abducted from his duty post, severely tortured and released last Monday by soldiers of the 72 Special Battalion in Makurdi.
The incident came about three months after another staff of the Board was abducted in similar fashion by soldiers and his corpse later found on the roadside in North Bank.
That incident has become an issue for a Coroner’s Inquest. In this interview he gave detailed account of how he was abducted by the soldiers and how he narrowly escaped being killed by his abductors. Excerpt:
What happened to you?
I will start by saying that I work at the North Bank Produce Inspection Point of the Benue Internal Revenue Service, BIRS. I was on duty last Monday when some soldiers came to my check point at about 10 to 11pm. They arrested one of my colleagues and I went to ask them what happened. When I got to them they started beating me and bundled me into their Hilux Van.
They took me to a nearby filling station even as they continued to manhandle. I kept shouting and beckoning to bystanders to come and rescue me. At that point they tied my mount to stop me from shouting. They drove straight to the 72 Battalion Special Forces Barracks.
On getting there they took me to the Guardroom where I saw some six soldiers who were arrested and locked up in the Guardroom. When these group of six saw me they said that it is because of us that they were about losing their jobs. They asked if I knew that they have been locked up since the incident that led to the death of my colleague Sixtus Akure who they abducted and was later found dead. They asked me what my name was.
I became scared, something came into me warning that if I told them my real names they might kill me because of the statement they made earlier that they were about losing their jobs because of us. So I told them that my name was Terso Terngu.
At that point they started beating me again but said they would not kill me because I was not a member of the produce tax collectors. They said they hate hearing anything called Benue Internally Revenue Service warning that if they catch any BIRS staff that person would be as good as dead and that they would bear the consequences.
They continued to beat me. One of them asked me to open my mouth, when in did he forced a stick into my mouth in a bid to remove my tongue. He said they would pull out my tongue if I failed to tell them the truth about whatever information they wanted from me. I insisted that I did not work for BIRS and I did not know them.
It was at that point that they started discussing among themselves that they picked the wrong person who was not work with BIRS.
They then resolved that I should be taken to the police station in North which is the ‘C’ Division. When they got their with me, the Police Officer on duty asked them to write a formal statement, but they refused. An argument ensued between them and the police. At that point the soldiers told the police to hand me back to them so that they can return me to the barracks. It was at that point that I appealed to the police not to allow them take me back to their barracks because if they did they would kill me. That was how they abandoned me there at the station and drove away in their Hilux Van. The BIRS was called and they came and took me to hospital
How many were the soldiers that picked you?
I would not know precisely but they drove in two Hilux Van and about eight of them were with me in one while the second Van had a number of them in it.
Did they tell you the offense you committed before taking you to the barrack?
They did not tell me anything, they only asked me my name and I was afraid because I am among the people that are testifying before the ongoing Coroner’s Inquest. So I thought that if I told them my real name they would kill me. So I gave them a fake name and when they cross-checked the list they had, they did not see my name.