42 Days in the Hands of Bandits: How Gbolahan Olaniyi Survived His Kidnapping

My name is Gbolahan Olaniyi. At 9 am, 23rd of October, 2025, I was kidnapped at Oke Ako, YSJ Farm, Ikole Local Government, Ekiti State. This was how it happened.

I was at the White House, our office, when I told the tractor operator to take the farm workers to the farm and then return to pick me up. We had just started the maize harvesting. I expected the operator to return, but after several minutes, I took a bike to the farm when I couldn’t find him. I had called his phone, but his number wasn’t going through. When I got to the farm, I saw that the tractor had diverted into the bush. I approached the tractor, and as I was about to shout the tractor’s name, I was suddenly surrounded by seven (Boro) boys, guns crossing over their shoulders.

I thought I was dreaming.

I knelt immediately, raised my hands, and started pleading. Up front, the tractor operator had been hand-tied, and he was struggling to scream. They collected my phone, bag, farm boots, and the 80 thousand naira meant to pay the farm workers. They asked who I was, and out of fear, I said I was the farm manager. I wasn’t. They tied my hands and bumped us to start walking. We crossed the river behind the farm and moved to the top of a mountain. We waited there. They roasted stolen corn and gave us to eat. There, gun to my head, I was asked to unlock my phone, and while scrolling, they’d ask who a contact was. They spoke pidgin, and one of them understood Yoruba. On WhatsApp, they saw that a contact was standing with the Ekiti State Governor in their profile picture. “Who be this?” They asked.

It was my boss at YSJ. They told me to call her.

I called and told her I was kidnapped. She immediately said she’d report to the Police and the Army. When they heard this, one of the bandits told her that they did not want the police or any armed forces. All they wanted was money. They hung up the call. They called again, insisting that all they wanted was money. My boss asked how much they wanted. “100 million for the farm manager. 50 million for the tractor operator.” 150 million naira.

My boss requested their account number, but they refused. They wanted cash. My boss promised to gather the money within three days. Immediately after the call, they rushed us to continue moving. They were scared my boss would track us and send armed forces. They took my phone, and we continued walking barefoot. As we were moving, we met more farmers and people on the road. They kidnapped them, too. They kidnapped 9 more people, making 11 of us in total.

We got to their base on the fifth day. But before we got there, they called my boss again to request the money. But her number did not go through. They threatened to kill, so I offered to call my mum for negotiation. After negotiation with my mum, they reduced the ransom to 30 million naira, 15 million for me, 15 million for the operator. A week after I was kidnapped, my family gathered the 15 million naira. It was like a miracle to me because my mum ran her trading business with loans.

Before bringing the money, they requested other items like cartons of drinks, two new phones, food, two pairs of trousers and shirts, according to my mum. My mum, my younger brother and my father brought the ransom to them at Egbe, Kogi State. (I don’t know how we got there.) After delivery, my family requested my release, but they told them I was sick and that I would be delivered to them tomorrow morning. They told them to wait for me at a village I can’t remember the name of now. Late in the night, they brought the items to where we were, and I could see that it was my ransom. I thought I was going home tomorrow.

The following morning, as the second in command was approaching me, I was ready to be untied and start going home. But he said I was not ready to leave. They said my ransom was not complete. It remained 5 million naira for me, and the remaining 15 million for the operator. I told them, “But the owners of the farm are responsible for this person. Na my mama go sell her properties to get this money, I’m sure.” Instead, I was beaten and pushed to the ground.

They approached the tractor operator and asked who he could call to get his money. Unfortunately, he had lost his phone, and he couldn’t remember any of his family members’ phone numbers. But I had his boss’s number on my phone. So I requested to call his boss, but they wouldn’t use my phone. They called him with theirs. When the boss picked, he said they had only been able to gather 2 million naira. That they couldn’t gather beyond that. “Wetin we wan use 2 million naira do?” The bandit asked. The boss said they can’t afford beyond 2 million naira.

They shot the operator twice. One to his stomach. One to the chest.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I started peeing on myself. I felt the bones in my body vibrating. Is this how I’m going to die, too? The man on the call had not hung up and heard the gunshot. I heard him say in Yoruba, in tears, “You too shall be killed by gun bullets.”

After this, they told us to start moving again. They released people as ransoms came in. 10 million naira. 12 million naira. 3 million naira. They kept releasing others until it remained a woman, who claimed to be a pastor’s wife, and me. Later, they transferred us to another bandit group in another location. It was a high hill. I saw two men (one of them was a Baba) chained to the ground. (One of them was Hausa.) They chained us too, and they kept telling us to beg our families to send money.

After about 28 days, we had remained three because they took the pastor’s wife away. However, something happened. Do you remember the Eruku church incident? It was the same group that carried out that operation. They brought the kidnapped people there, but they were released after 5 days. They said the Kwara State government had paid their ransom. There were about 35 of them: children, old women, adults. I got to know they were kidnapped in the church because one of them narrated it to us, that they were kidnapped in a church.

I was only saved by God. What I saw there was beyond an experience.

After spending about 39 days, one of them approached me and asked if I wanted to go home. If I wanted to, I could call my mum to ask her to send any amount she had. My mum said she had 1.5 million naira. But he wouldn’t accept that. He wanted 2 million naira to be delivered on Friday. On Friday, he called my mum to ask about the money, and my mum asked where to drop it. He told my mum he had an account number for a transfer. Because they couldn’t operate phones properly, I texted the account number to my mum through his phone. My mum sent the money, and he told me I’d be going home tomorrow.

The following day, as earlier, I expected to be released. But the bandit who promised to release me wasn’t there. We were only left with an errand boy who was carrying a gun, but was friendly. The bandit didn’t arrive until night. He called the errand boy, and they disappeared somewhere. When the errand boy returned, he appeared sad. We asked what happened, and he said the bandit who collected 2 million naira yesterday only gave him 15 thousand naira. He became angry and said he was going to his father’s house.

On Sunday, the errand boy left and dropped everything; the keys, the torchlight, everything, except his gun. We thought it was a bait, so we just waited. But after waiting for hours, we took the keys and unchained ourselves. Oh, we ran. We ran. We walked. We didn’t know where we were. We didn’t know where we were going. We didn’t know where we were coming from. But we knew we would get somewhere, somehow. We rested when we could. We drank from any stream. We wanted to give up, but once we remembered what we’ve been through, we couldn’t afford to give up.

When we arrived at a road, we saw tracks of bikes and the Baba advised we followed them. We didn’t care whether it led us to the bandit. We were already tired. Fortunately for us, we got to a place and saw some farmers harvesting from a farm. One of them gave us food and water. His son took us on his bike to a nearby town, but on his bike, I thought it was another bandit trap. We eventually arrived at Isanlu Esa, Yagba West, Kogi State. We were taken to the army base there, and we met with the major. We were all interrogated. The army later contacted the army base at Oke Ako, where I was kidnapped. They arranged for a vehicle to move us from Isanlu Esa to Ado Ekiti that same day, to the police station. I had called my mum at Isanlu Esa, and she was already waiting for me at the police station.

Till present, my mother is still repaying the debt. It feels like my life was caught in a loop I was not aware of. I still can’t sleep well at night. I left Ekiti State. I do not go out anymore. I do not know who’s watching me. I constantly live in fear. I was living a normal life, and that changed against my will. I do not know how to move forward.

Gbolahan Olaniyi at an army barrack after surviving his kidnapping. Photo courtesy of Gbolahan Olaniyi.

Gbolahan Olaniyi at an army barrack after surviving his kidnapping. Photo courtesy of Gbolahan Olaniyi.

I would really appreciate a repost. ❤️ I spent 42 days in the wilderness with bandits, and I want to share some of my experiences.

Bro, I never even knew how strong and rugged I was until I made it out alive from those bandits.

From the very first day I was kidnapped, I was…

— THIAGO☺️ (@GbolahanOlanyi0) April 8, 2026

The biggest comeback is making myself feel like myself again. 🥹

— THIAGO☺️ (@GbolahanOlanyi0) April 7, 2026