Kidnappers Turn Victim Into Interpreter During Ordeal

(Ngozi Stephen. Photo by TVC News)

Ngozi Stephen, one of 16 victims rescued by security personnel following an abduction incident along a Kogi State highway, has disclosed how her fluency in Hausa positioned her as an intermediary communicator between the perpetrators and fellow captives throughout their ordeal.

In an interview with a television news programme on Wednesday, Stephen recounted how the kidnappers exploited her linguistic proficiency to facilitate dialogue with the other hostages.

Whenever the captors issued directives or articulated demands in Hausa, she was compelled to relay their communications to the group and convey responses back to their abductors.

Stephen’s account illuminates the predicament endured by the victims during confinement and how her language aptitude inadvertently cast her in a mediation role between the kidnappers and the captive group.

She emphasised that she had no alternative but to assume the interpreter function, as the perpetrators depended entirely on her ability to bridge the communication gap with the broader cohort of hostages.

Her testimony underscores the multifaceted vulnerabilities experienced by abduction victims beyond physical captivity, revealing how individual skills and attributes can be weaponised by perpetrators to maintain control within hostage situations.

VIDEO: ‘I Became Their Interpreter’ — Kogi Kidnap Survivor Narrates Ordeal

Ngozi Stephen, one of the victims rescued from a kidnapping incident in Kogi State, has recounted her ordeal, revealing that the abductors demanded ransoms ranging from ₦50 million to ₦100 million… pic.twitter.com/EEqmbGgVxM

— TVC News (@tvcnewsng) August 11, 2026