On the 12th of May 2016, a close friend of mine came to visit me in preparation for her forthcoming birthday celebration. She came to show me some things she bought and for us to address the invitation cards to her invitees. After staying for about two hours, she left at about 8:55 p.m. As she drove out of my street gate, my husband got a call from the street security officer that a woman that drove out of the street gate had just been kidnapped. I quickly moved closer to hear the conversation my husband was having over the phone and discovered that the person they just kidnapped was my friend who left barely five minutes ago.
We rushed out of our home to the street gate and saw her car parked there with the driver’s door ajar. The kidnappers took her with her handbag and car keys. We immediately went to the police station to make a report but nothing was done. I began to pray in other tongues, calling my siblings, parents, family members and friends to join me. I sent a message to my FOG leader and everybody started praying for confusion among the abductors. I was really confused initially because I didn’t know if they came for her specifically, or just anybody and it brought fear to my home at some point.
The abductors didn’t call until after six days and this got my children and I worried. I couldn’t eat or sleep and lost weight thinking about the situation. I would often stay for hours inside my car praying for her release, believing that God would do His thing and see me through the temptation and make the abductors release her. I was named the first suspect in this situation, for which her family members and people around asked her husband to arrest me but he refused and told them he trusted my family, and that we wouldn’t plot any evil against them.
Days turned to weeks and finally the abductors demanded twenty million naira ransom for her release. This made everybody panic because such a huge amount of money wasn’t easy to come by but we kept praying and believing that God will have her released. I stood on the Word of God because I was too troubled and weak. I cried on some days whenever I thought of her position wherever she was but God came through for me.
On the 1st of June, her husband called me that morning to say his wife had been released. I ran to her house and behold she was well and good, with nothing missing and nothing broken, I just want to thank God for His grace and mercy that has kept us strong throughout the three weeks of that ordeal.
