John
Atabor
John Atabor, a 23-year-old,
300 level Civil
Engineering student of the
Federal
Polytechnic, Idah, Kogi
State, was
kidnapped on Tuesday,
November 19,
2013, and released by his
captors a week
later, on November 26.
In the afternoon of
November 19, Mr. Atabor
left his hostel, and, as he
walked down the
road within his campus, an
ash-coloured
Mercedes car with four
male passengers
suddenly pulled up beside
him and called his
attention. As there were
other students
nearby, Mr. Atabor obliged
them.
"That was all I could
remember," he recalls.
"Even before I got to the
campus gate, I was
not myself anymore. I
began to think that I
must have been
hypnotised."
Mr. Atabor also says that,
despite other
students' presence nearby,
he could not call
for help, and no one raised
the alarm.
"We drove out of the
campus' gate... and
that was how my journey to
Lagos began."
According to Mr. Atabor,
the four men took
him to Lagos, where they
locked him up in
an unknown building.
"I didn't know where I was,
and I was not
allowed to come out for any
reason."
One night, one of the
abductors came to his
cubicle and asked him if he
would still find
his way back.
"It was then that I realised
that I was still
alive and in this world,
because where I was
kept, it was difficult to hear
any sound.
Where I was kept, I was
only given water
and bread. Most times, I
would be asleep
and just wake up to see the
food there. I
never saw the person who
brought the
food. That still remains a
mystery," the
young man says.
The next morning, the same
man returned
to him and informed he
would be on his
way home before nightfall.
"He gave me the phone and
told me to call
anyone I wanted to come
pick me. The first
name that came to mind
was my father's,
and I called him. He wanted
to know where
I was and after asking the
people around, I
informed him that I was in
Alaba Suru in
Ojo, Lagos State," Atabor
says.
His father, Paul Garuba
Atabor, was ecstatic
to hear his son. When he
got the details, he
called his brother, a soldier
serving at the
Ojo Barracks.
"My brother went to Alaba
Suru armed and
eventually saw John Atabor
alive without
bruises. I give unequivocal
thanks to God for
His goodness," the father
says.
"When I got the news of my
son's ordeal, I
tried to think about
someone who I must
have offended, but I could
not remember
anyone. The only
alternative I came up with
was to give praise to God
and engage in
prayer sessions for as long
as the ordeal
lasted."
The elder Atabor recalled
that he made
several phone calls to
relations and friends
within and outside Kogi
State, letting them
know what had happened to
his son.
The thanks-giving service
organised in
honour of the returned
Atabor-junior was
well-attended. Joyous
worshippers
thronged to the church,
where they piled
into the pew of the Saint
Mary Immaculate
Catholic Cathedral Lokoja,
Kogi State and
joined the Atabors in
thanking God.
The father revealed that he
could not
estimate how much was
spent, but
remained ever grateful to
God for his
mercies.
Posted via obasco etubi
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