Akponye Alphonsus, a victim of kidnapping, has taken legal action against a private bus company, alleging negligence that resulted in his abduction.
Alphonsus stated that on March 31, 2024, he was at the park of the bus company in Abuja where he bought a ticket to travel on one of its buses scheduled to take off at 8 am and arrive at his destination at 5 pm the same day.
He said the vehicle did not depart until about some minutes past 10 am.
In his statement of claim, he averred that the transport company commenced the trip in a vehicle that was in a very bad condition.
He added that a few minutes after beginning the trip, the vehicle developed a tyre problem wherein the trip was suspended to replace the bad tyre and that the tyre was replaced with a faulty spare.
In a witness statement by him, Alphonsus, claimed that “this already dead tyre busted on the highway wherein the driver lost control of the car and they survived a horrific accident only by the Grace of God”.
“It took the driver almost four hours to fix this busted tyre because he did not have the necessary tools to fix the vehicle and in the process himself and other passengers were kidnapped by criminals who took advantage of the vehicle situation that the defendant put them through,” he added.
He said he was with the kidnappers for three days because his relatives could not raise the ransom demanded by the kidnappers, but was later released after his relations were able to raise the sum of N5m for the kidnappers.
He said he was traumatised by the experience which worsened his health challenges and had to be taken to a hospital after his release.
The claimant in a writ of summon, through his lawyers, Ikechukwu Uzuegbu, demanded the N13m, including N10m, for general damages and N3m for legal fees paid from the transport company.
