Six travellers abducted by suspected sea pirates along the Bille-Port Harcourt waterway in Rivers State have revealed that they paid a total of N28m ransom to secure their release after spending 12 days in captivity.
The victims, five men and a woman, were kidnapped on April 4, 2025, near the New Calabar River while travelling from Bille Kingdom in Degema Local Government Area to Port Harcourt.
Speaking in Port Harcourt on Friday, the travellers recounted their harrowing ordeal, just as they accused the government of neglecting the safety of riverine communities.
One of the victims, Ibikura Biobele, narrated that the armed pirates ambushed their boat, forcefully dragged them into another vessel, and ferried them deep into the forest where they were tortured, blindfolded, and starved.
“They beat us and told us they resorted to kidnapping because government stopped them from engaging in oil bunkering. They gave us only dry garri to chew — no water. We drank saltwater to stay alive, Biobele said.
He disclosed that the kidnappers initially demanded N50m but later accepted N28m after prolonged negotiations and pleas from the victims’ families.
“We begged them and they finally agreed to release us after collecting N28m. It was by God’s grace we came out alive,” he said.
He expressed frustration over the persistent insecurity on the waterways and urged the government to deploy more security patrols and reinstate community-based policing structures that had previously kept pirates at bay.
“There is no protection on our waterways. Government must deploy gunboats not just in the open ocean but inside the creeks where these attacks happen. Or let the communities protect themselves like before,” he added.
