“We didn’t kill anybody, the lady that died was out of fear, we didn’t shoot anybody. The person that involved me into the kidnap of these persons we kidnapped in Ebonyi didn’t disclose it to me.

“The man that involved me is a Fulani man, he is my customer. He buys things from me in my shop where I sell provision.

“The man came to my shop on 13th December, 2023 with his cattle. I told him, Alhaji, you have many cows now.

“He told me, ‘yes, the cows are mine. I pleaded with him to borrow me N50,000 and promised to pay him back on February this year. He told me that he has no money and promised to get back to me.

“Five days later, the man came back to me, he didn’t come back with his cattle this time around. He told me that he wants to carry me to work in Afikpo, and I have never been to Afikpo before.

“I asked him the type of work he wants to carry me to do and he told me its manure work, that he wants me to bag it and if I work hard, I will earn N30,000 or N40,000 in four days. I said okay and called my brother to be taking care of my shop so that I will follow the Alhaji and go for that work.

“I followed the man to Afikpo and we got to Afikpo on that new year in the evening. He bought me food and lodged me in one hotel. In the morning, he stopped bike and told me to join him in the bike and he took me to a thick forest and told me he was coming back.

“He went and brought two of his brothers and kept them with me. He didn’t tell me what we want to do and it was evening period.

“He left us and came back with a bag. When he turned it on the ground, it was a gun and a cloth. I asked him what we are going to do with gun, he told me ‘You said you are looking for money, this is the time we are going to look for the money’”

“He prepared himself finish and told us to follow him. We got to a bush path where he ordered us to stay in a corner in that bush path.

“When we were in the bush, he saw a jeep coming and shot in the air. The vehicle stopped and he attacked the vehicle and opened it.