For 47-year-old horticulture Henry Edobor Okunrobo, January 17, 2023, was just another day since he had no inkling of what would happen to him. He wouldn’t have left his home in Obadore village, in the Igando neighbourhood of Lagos, if he had known that when he woke up that fateful day, he would be kidnapped on the road, presented as a sacrifice to the gods, rejected, and wind up in a slave camp.

When he refused to be taken, his captors became enraged and punched him in the mouth, killing three of his front teeth. He was sacrificed to the gods somewhere in Ogun state, and as fate would have it, his missing teeth were his salvation. Despite being brought to two ritualists, he was deemed unsuitable for sacrifice. It was stated that his missing teeth did not make him imperfect.

Instead of wasting him, his kidnappers decided to sell him into slavery in order to profit. A farmer who had a sizable farm with several other slaves purchased him. Back home, his family filed for a missing person’s complaint at the Igando Police station after friends and family searched for him frantically for weeks. To no effect, the search was extended to additional police stations and hospitals. They eventually gave up and declared him dead. Believing he was dead, several of his friends and family even planned a wake in his honour. However, a year and nine months later, he abruptly materialised as a ghost. He told Saturday Vanguard his story.

Although my name is Henry Edobor Okunrobo, I go by Epa 1 of Obadore in the Obadore neighbourhood in the Igando neighbourhood of Lagos. In addition to being an enthusiastic supporter of a better Nigeria, I am a horticulture. I was a fervent supporter of the Obidient movement during the electioneering campaigns leading up to Nigeria’s presidential election on February 25, 2023, and my advocacy drew many like-minded individuals. People who enjoyed what I was doing encouraged me and even gave me financial help.

Although I never had the opportunity to meet Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, I supported his campaign and purchased his political philosophy. I wanted to be heard, at least locally, and ran a lone campaign for the Labour party. I gained a lot of fans, which helped me become quite popular.

Supporters of other political parties started to feel uneasy as my campaign got more intense and my message louder. The constancy and ferocity of my message annoyed them. Because of what I was doing, they detested me.

How I was kidnapped

At around 9:30 p.m. on that fateful night of January 17, 2023, I walked out to get supper following one of my campaign rituals. A black SUV vehicle with masked guys passed me at a very sluggish speed. I became suspicious when I saw they were deliberate. I tried to accelerate, but the automobile turned around and stopped before I could try to sound an alarm. “Enter the car now or you die here,” three masked guys said as they got out of the automobile.

They punched me in the mouth twice as soon as they saw I was going to sound the alarm. After losing three teeth in the process, I was loaded into the vehicle.

As they went about their regular lives, onlookers saw nothing out of the ordinary. My kidnapping went unnoticed, and those who saw the drama could have assumed it was just a friendly exchange between local acquaintances. While the driver and another man in front talked in low voices, I was forced to face down and wedged between the two masked men in the rear seat of the automobile.

At the lair of the ritualists

“The car abruptly stopped after four hours or so of driving, and I was asked to get out.” I had no idea where I was; all I could see were shrubs and trees. Only a tiny settlement in the midst of nowhere caught my attention. Later, an elderly guy of around sixty years arrived where I was standing with the other three men after emerging from a building with one of the masked men. After being led into the main house, I heard them conversing in Yoruba, but I was unable to understand what they were saying. I had already come to the conclusion that I would never see my family again at that point.

Even though they were asking me questions, I never understood the questions they were asking. I spent seven days there without seeing the moon at night or the sun during the day. They fed me three times a day while I was chained up and prepared for sacrifice. About 20 additional prisoners, including men and women, were also housed in a tiny room. When I was able to locate an English-speaking individual among them, I realised I had been kidnapped for ceremonial purposes. When I first heard this, I was really afraid.

The herbalist entered with the guys who had abducted me after I had been held captive for seven days. I was aware that they were talking about me. The herbalist then pointed at me, his voice angry as he spoke to my captors. I was later escorted outside the home after being instructed to get up. One of the men suggested that we take him to the other man once we were outside the building, and they all agreed. With tears in my eyes, I pleaded with them to let me go, but instead they got me into their car and drove me to another herbalist who was nearby.

Seven of us were held hostage for three days in the second herbalist’s location. One by one, we were being summoned. The rest of us would know that someone had left the shrine if one of us was summoned to enter and he didn’t return. I was called to enter the shrine when it was my turn, but nothing occurred. The herbalist then said in Yoruba, “Who brought this incomplete man here?” Would you like to ruin my shrine? Until his missing teeth are found, the gods will not accept this crippled man.

sold into slavery

“Being uncertain about their next course of action, the kidnappers proposed to kill me. However, the herbalist suggested that rather than murdering me, I should be sent to his partner, who typically purchased slaves to labour for him on his farm after being rejected by the gods. I don’t know how much the man paid, but I was eventually sold to him. It was a large farm with more slaves working on it.

About 30 people, the youngest of whom should have been 13 or 15 years old, worked for the farmer in a fairly isolated community. We had to do our daily responsibilities after being given potions of the farms by guards or task masters in the morning. I was so hypnotised at the farm that I was unable to recall anything.

I couldn’t even recall my name since I had lost my memories. Because I was working so hard, the individuals I met there became my family and started calling me “Jackie.” We were fed three times a day, and some guards kept a tight eye on our movements.

I was no longer productive after a year and nine months since I was so weak and occasionally becoming ill. I could no longer move any part of my body, so at one point I even urged them to murder me. They urged me to go thank God when they realised I was no longer helpful, and I was eventually let go.

Released after a year and nine months

“I was taken on a bike on the day of my release, and before we reached the highway, we went through the wilderness for over two hours.

I started to regain awareness as soon as I noticed some guys gathering around, and I began to question how I had gotten there. When I questioned the men where that location was, they said, “This is Lagos – Abeokuta road.”

When I asked them to take me in the direction of the closest town, they indicated a single path to follow. After that, I travelled to Itori, a tiny village in Ogun State, where I made the decision to plead for money so that I could return home. I spent three days in Itori town pleading for help and slept with bus drivers in a petrol station. I left the town for Lagos after raising a sizable sum to get me home.

At home

“It was indeed a miracle that I was reunited with my pals. Despite my fatigue, I was happy that I was still alive. The sight of a long-forgotten guy stunned the entire neighbourhood. They appeared to be witnessing a ghost. They hurried over to greet me and enquire about the true nature of the incident. They also told me that when the police made unsuccessful attempts to find me, they created posters and flyers with my obituary.

Even though Mr. Henry was emotionally exhausted from his confinement, he was adamant about putting his life back together, despite his anger at not knowing where to start.

When he got home, he discovered that his wife and kids had moved to Benin because they thought he was dead. Additionally, he returned to find his flowers ruined and without a source of income.

Mr. Henry Edobor Okunrobo became a symbol of bravery and perseverance as he continued to advocate for human rights, his voice now even more forceful than before, despite the fact that the horror of the previous 20 months may follow him for the rest of his life.