Popular comedian Odey Mathias, widely known as General Odey, has recounted his chilling experience after spending 50 days in captivity.
Speaking on Channels TV’s The Morning Brief on Thursday, the comedian described the ordeal as “horrible and unimaginable,” saying he would not wish it even on an enemy.
Odey was kidnapped on April 18, 2025, along with 23 passengers while travelling to Calabar through the Oron/Uyo waterways. Armed men attacked their boat, firing shots and ramming into it before transferring them into another vessel. They were then taken for about 40 minutes to an undisclosed creek community.
While many hostages were released earlier, Odey’s detention lasted longer, which he believes was because he wore a military-style outfit at the time of the abduction.
“We were beaten, starved, and forbidden from looking at their faces. If we tried, they hit us,” he revealed.
He described how the kidnappers lived among their families, played loud music, fired shots in the air, and only took victims to places with phone signals when demanding ransom. Odey said he was rarely allowed to speak with his family, managing just two calls to his wife — one a week after his abduction and another on the day of his release.
His family, working with a security agency, was forced to pay multiple ransoms. After the first ₦3m payment, the kidnappers demanded more, eventually extorting a total of about ₦8m before letting him go.
#KidnapSurvivor #GeneralOdey #NigeriaNews #SecurityChallenges #BreakingNews #PunchNews
