Patience Emmanuel

Suspected cultists who kidnapped Patience Emmanuel; a 20-year-old undergraduate in Bauchi State have told her family that they didn’t need money but the victim’s virginity, The PUNCH reports.

The victim’s parents had been distraught over her kidnap which occurred four days ago.

The family said Emmanuel, a 100 level Pharmacology student at the Bauchi State University, Gadau, left the house on Wednesday afternoon and her whereabouts unknown since then.

Speaking with journalists on Saturday, the victim’s father, Mr Emmanuel Kushi, a retired civil servant, said his daughter was abducted on her way home after visiting his younger brother.

He said, “On Wednesday, June 24, around 2pm, she left my younger brother’s house in Rafin Zurfi and told him she was coming to my house at Kafin Tafawa (a distance of about four kilometers) to pick something and he gave her permission to come.

“By evening my younger brother’s wife kept calling her mobile to know if she had arrived but there was no response. They thought she was already in my house working.

“Later on, they tried again but the number was switched off. The next day (Thursday) around 1pm, my younger brother’s wife called me and asked why I delayed Patience and didn’t let her come back. She asked if there was any problem.

“I told her that I didn’t see Patience because she had not come to my house. She expressed shock about what I told her and said she would call her friend to confirm.”

He further explained that his brother’s wife told him that when she called Patience’s friend, he told her that he also tried calling her on Wednesday but her phone rang out.

The father added, “So he sent a text message to her mobile. Then, a reply came in. The response read, ‘Do you think you will ever see her again? Fool.’”

Kushi said he came back from the farm and also saw a text message in his phone sent by the abductors through his daughter’s number.

The text message, which was forwarded to our correspondent read, “Father, your daughter is with us (BLACK AXE CONFRETANITY (sic)). We don’t need your money what we need is her virginity. Don’t bother looking for her.”

He said that he got another text from the abductors on Saturday morning informing him that she was dead.

“This morning, at exactly 10.25am, they sent me another text message and said ‘she is dead’. We’ve been trying to call her but her number has been switched off. One thing I know is that my daughter is not dead. I believe she will return alive.”

He said the family had reported the matter to the Yelwa Divisional Police Headquarters.

Kushi explained that the family had resorted to prayers to seek God’s intervention while awaiting the outcome of police investigation. He described his daughter as a well-behaved and obedient daughter “who always jokes with me.”

The mother of the abducted lady, Mary, said she had been living in anxiety since Thursday when she heard of the news.

She said, “I have not been finding it easy since I got the news that she was missing. I got the news on Thursday afternoon. I have left everything to God. They should release my daughter’s corpse to us so that I can see her.”

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Ahmed Wakil, confirmed the incident, adding that the police were investigating the matter.