Wisdom Amedu, a farmer and writer, shares a chilling account of being kidnapped in Ekpoma with his wife and driver. He says, “We are not safe.”
Wisdom Amedu, a 32-year-old farmer and writer, has shared a harrowing account of the night he, his pregnant wife, and his driver were kidnapped from their home in Ekpoma, Edo State.
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Speaking with journalist Temitope Adetunji, Amedu gave a vivid, unsettling narrative that reflects Nigeria’s deepening insecurity crisis.
On 17 March 2025, Amedu had returned from his farm in Emu and was trying to rest when armed men stormed his rented apartment around 1 am.
He recalled hearing gunshots after their dogs began barking. Moments later, the assailants broke down the door and violently entered, brandishing guns and machetes.
“They whipped me with machetes and kept cutting me when I told them I was a farmer,” he said.
They demanded N20 million and called his mother, forcing her to hear his screams as they inflicted pain.
His wife and driver were also abducted. The criminals stole his car and his landlord’s SUV, then dragged their captives into the bush.
In a shocking revelation, Amedu said one of the kidnappers was an active-duty soldier. “He wore combat trousers and boots.
I thought he was a policeman, but the kidnappers later confessed that he was a soldier,” he said.
The soldier was reportedly part of the team that planned to transport the stolen vehicle to Okene.
After torturing them, the kidnappers injected all three hostages and dumped them in an uncompleted building. “I passed out.
I only woke up much later in a hospital bed,” Amedu recalled. His mother had sent N1 million to the kidnappers, and further transactions were attempted using his wife’s ATM card and PoS machine.
The rescue came after his mother alerted the military. Soldiers patrolling Ekpoma tracked the kidnappers transporting Amedu’s vehicle.
One suspect was arrested during the pursuit, leading to their eventual rescue.
“My landlord was the target,” Amedu said. “He jumped the fence and escaped while they shot at him. But when they saw my solar installation, they assumed I had money. That was why they took me.”
Despite surviving the ordeal, Amedu remains deeply traumatised. “Till today, I can’t sleep. I’ve moved out of the house. My wife and I live in fear. We’re not okay,” he said.
Reflecting on the experience, Amedu expressed little confidence in Nigeria’s security system. “We are not safe, and that’s the truth. One of them was a soldier—so tell me, who do we trust?” he asked.
He has resolved to speak publicly to raise awareness about kidnapping in Nigeria, though he admits to fears, especially as some of his attackers remain at large.
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“If we had not been rescued,” he said, “we would have been killed. No doubt about it.”
