Kidnappers, Not Islamists, Chopped Off My Hand – Victim

A victim of kidnapping, Lanlege Samuel Adewale, whose left hand was chopped off, has explained that it was the kidnappers who chopped off his hand and not Islamists, as it is rumoured in a viral video circulating online.

Adewale, who spoke to security men after he was rescued alongside his brother, said it was whilst trying to avoid a machete attack to his neck that one of the kidnappers cut off his left hand.

While narrating his ordeal to some security men and a few journalists, Adewale said he and his brother were last Sunday riding a motorcycle to Ogbe in Yagba West LGA, in Kogi State, when eight kidnappers sprang from the bush and seized them.

According to him, it was in a failed bid to escape from the kidnappers’ den in Babanla Forest in Ifelodun LGA of Kwara State, that one of the gang members cut off his left hand.

He was left for dead until a joint security team found him and took him to the hospital.

Adewale also said, “The incident surrounding my severed hand has nothing to do with the rumours that some persons were trying to Islamize and spread Jihad across Yorubaland, beginning with certain states.”

A security source disclosed that, before the failed escape bid, the kidnappers had forced Langele and his brother to their hideout in Eruku Forest, Ekiti LGA of Kwara State, through Oke-Ere/Okoloke forests in Yagba West of Kogi State, where they spent two days.

“The kidnappers were aggressive and refused to listen to their relatives, hence the attempted escape. Adewale’s resistance angered them so much that they inflicted multiple injuries on his leg, arm and abandoned him thereafter,” the source said.