A middle-aged man with a chopped off left arm in a video that has gone viral has dispelled rumours that it was Islamists who cut off his hand. He said it was the handiwork of kidnappers.
The man, Lanlege Samuel 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.
According to the victim, he and his brother were last Sunday riding a motorcycle to Ogbe in Yagba West LGA, in Kogi State, when eight kidnappers sprsng from the bush and seized them. He told security sources that 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 to hospital,” added the source.
The 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 our relatives, hence, the attempted escape. My resistance angered them so much that they inflicted multiple injuries on my leg, arm and abandoned me thereafter. I am grateful to the life-saving security team that rushed me to the hospital,” Lanlege was quoted to have stated.
“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,” he declared.