A chilling video has emerged showing a husband and wife held at gunpoint deep in the bush, pleading for their lives as kidnappers demand ₦50 million ransom. The couple, abducted from Aviele Community near Auchi in Edo State, were ambushed around 7-8 PM while returning home, and the distressing footage has ignited fresh concerns about Nigeria’s escalating insecurity crisis.
- Armed kidnappers seized a pregnant woman and her husband from Aviele Community, Edo State, demanding ₦50 million ransom
- Viral video shows the terrified couple begging for help with rifles pointed at their heads
- Human rights activist Harrison Gwamnishu shared the footage, calling on federal and state governments to act swiftly
The Kidnapping: What Happened That Night
On the evening of the abduction, the couple was returning to their home in Aviele Community a settlement near Auchi in Edo State, when armed men ambushed them. According to the victim’,s brother, who spoke in a follow-up video, the kidnapping occurred between 7 PM and 8 PM.
He was coming back from town yesterday in his house when they kidnapped him and his wife,
the brother explained, as he walked through the bush where the abduction took place.
“According to somebody that was at home, he said he saw Fulani herdsmen taking them inside the bush.”
The brother, along with family members, discovered footprints leading into dense forest terrain a haunting trail that confirmed their worst fears. By the time they arrived at the scene, the kidnappers and their victims had vanished into the night.
Whizzy says: “Fulani herdsmen” has become a controversial term in Nigeria’s security conversations. While some kidnapping cases involve herders, others are carried out by various criminal groups. It’s important not to generalize, but the pattern of forest abductions is very real.
“Make Una Help Us, I Beg” The Heartbreaking Ransom Video
The kidnappers didn’t waste time. They sent a video directly to the family a calculated move designed to maximize fear and pressure.
In the grainy footage, the husband, surrounded by thick vegetation and with two rifles pointed at his head, makes a desperate plea in pidgin English:
“Make una help us I beg, I beg, my wife get belle. na only ₦7 million my family don fit, they are demanding for ₦50 million.”
His pregnant wife sobs uncontrollably in the background, her cries barely audible over her husband’s pleading voice. The terror is palpable. These aren’t Nollywood. These are real people, trapped in a nightmare, begging strangers on the internet to somehow save them.
The family, like thousands of Nigerian families before them, now faces an impossible choice: find ₦50 million naira (roughly $32,000 USD at current rates) or risk never seeing their loved ones again.
Whizzy says: ₦50 million might sound like a lot internationally, but in Nigeria’s current economic climate, it’s devastating for most families. Many end up selling property, taking loans, or crowdfunding just to meet ransom demands.
Who Is Harrison Gwamnishu?
The video was shared publicly by Harrison Gwamnishu, a prominent Nigerian human rights activist and social advocate known for his relentless work on behalf of vulnerable communities.
Based in Delta State, Gwamnishu is the founder of the Behind Bars Human Rights Foundation, an organization dedicated to prison reform, rescuing victims of human trafficking, child abuse prevention, and advocating against systemic injustice.
He has personally facilitated the release of wrongfully detained Nigerians, reunited trafficked children with their families, and consistently uses his platform with over 500,000 Instagram followers to shine a light on cases the mainstream media often ignores.
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His caption accompanying the kidnapping video was direct:
“Armed kidnappers sent this video to the family of a husband and wife taken from Aviele Community near Auchi in Edo State. They are asking for ransom. I am alerting the Federal Government, State Government to swiftly respond faster and restore peace to our communities.”
Gwamnishu’s intervention is significant. His track record of mobilizing public pressure has, in the past, expedited government responses and even led to rescue operations.
Netizens React: Outrage, Fear, and Frustration
The video quickly spread across Instagram, WhatsApp, and Twitter, triggering a wave of emotional reactions from Nigerians both at home and abroad.
Watch the Video Below
Nigeria’s Kidnapping Epidemic
This isn’t an isolated incident. Nigeria has been grappling with a kidnapping crisis that has spiraled out of control over the past decade.
According to data from SBM Intelligence, over 4,000 Nigerians were kidnapped in 2023 alone, with ransom payments totaling billions of naira. Edo State, where this latest abduction occurred, sits along key transit routes and borders forests that have become strongholds for criminal gangs.
The pattern is grimly familiar:
- Victims are ambushed on rural roads or in communities near forests
- Kidnappers, often heavily armed, vanish into difficult terrain
- Families receive ransom demands via phone or video
- Security forces are either too slow, under-resourced, or absent
- Families pay ransoms (fueling the cycle) or victims are killed
The economic impact is staggering. Farmers abandon their fields. Travelers avoid certain roads entirely. Businesses relocate. Fear becomes a currency more powerful than the naira.
Whizzy says: Some experts argue that paying ransoms encourages more kidnappings, creating a vicious cycle. But when it’s your loved one in the bush with a gun to their head, that debate feels academic.
Government Response: Will Anything Change?
Gwamnishu’s call for government action echoes the frustration of millions. Both the Federal Government and Edo State Government have repeatedly promised to tackle insecurity. Security summits are held. Task forces are announced. Budgets are allocated.
Yet, the kidnappings continue.
The government invested in security infrastructure and community policing initiatives. But the challenge is vast. Criminal networks are sophisticated, mobile, and often better armed than local police.
The question Nigerians keep asking: When will this end?
In this specific case, as of publication, there’s been no official statement from Edo State Police Command or federal security agencies regarding the Aviele kidnapping. The family, like so many before them, waits in agonizing uncertainty.
What Can Be Done?
Solving Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis requires more than tweets and press releases. Here are some evidence-based interventions experts have proposed:
- Community Policing: Empowering local vigilantes and community security networks who know the terrain
- Technology: Deploying drones and surveillance in kidnapping hotspots
- Economic Investment: Addressing poverty and unemployment that drive people into criminality
- Justice System Reform: Ensuring kidnappers face swift, certain punishment when caught
- Ransom Payment Debate: Some countries criminalize ransom payments to disincentivize kidnappings, a controversial but potentially necessary conversation
A Pregnant Woman, A Desperate Husband, and a Nation’s Conscience
As this story spreads, one truth becomes unavoidable: we’ve become numb.
Videos like this should shock us into action. Instead, they scroll past on our feeds, just another entry in Nigeria’s grim catalog of preventable tragedies.
But behind the pixels and viral shares are real human beings. A husband who just wants to bring his pregnant wife home safely. A woman who should be preparing for childbirth, not fearing for her life in the bush. A family selling everything they own to gather ₦50 million they don’t have.
Harrison Gwamnishu’s intervention reminds us that silence is complicity. Sharing is caring sometimes literally the difference between life and death.
Whizzy says: If you’re reading this from Nigeria, check on your neighbors. Share credible security information. And if you’re in a position to help amplify cases like this, do it. Your voice might be the one that saves a life.
As of now, the couple remains in captivity. Their family scrambles to raise the ransom. Security agencies have been notified, though their response time remains unclear.
WhiroBlog.com will continue monitoring this story and update readers as new information emerges.
If you have any information that could assist in this case, please contact Harrison Gwamnishu via his verified Instagram handle @harrison_gwamnishu or reach out to the Edo State Police Command.
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Have you or someone you know been affected by kidnapping in Nigeria? What do you think the government should do differently? Drop your thoughts in the comments below and if this story moved you, share it. Awareness saves lives.
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SOURCES
- Harrison Gwamnishu Instagram (@harrison_gwamnishu)
- SBM Intelligence Security Report 2023
- Behind Bars Human Rights Foundation official records
Stay informed. Stay safe. Stay human. 🌍
