Armed gang abducts family over daughter’s refusal to marry local politician

The armed men, numbering about six, stormed the family’s home in Apa council area of Benue State in the early hours of August 16, 2025, and whisked away Onoja’s brother, sister, and two cousins, who had come visiting at the time, to an unknown location.

Despite reporting the incident to law enforcement agencies, the whereabouts of the victims is yet to be ascertained, and no arrest has been made.

Several attempts by Onoja’s parents to get the police to investigate and arrest the politician despite evidence proving he was behind the abduction of the children and relatives have remained futile, as they were told the man was untouchable because of his close links with top power brokers in government.

On his part, the politician, who is a legislator in Benue State with enormous influence, has continued to boast that he would make life unbearable for Onoja and her family members except she returns to the community and becomes his wife.

He said he had a deal with the lady’s father that she would become his spouse if he sponsored her trip to the United Kingdom for higher education—a claim Onoja’s parents vehemently deny.

Apart from using armed thugs to threaten the family in retaliation, the politician has equally deployed a local women’s group to harass and intimidate the lady’s mother in a bid to force her return to the town and bow to his demands.

“The women’s group has adopted various means to frustrate and make life hellish for me since my daughter refused to marry the lawmaker. In fact, they have banned me from taking part in any of their activities.

“Sometimes in the market, some of the women refuse to sell me food items because they say I and my family have violated the tradition and will not be forgiven until my daughter returns and marries the man.

“The group also sends some of their members to our house almost on a weekly basis to threaten us with banishment and other severe punishments if we don’t present our daughter any time soon for the marriage.

“Four of my family members remain abducted at an unknown location on the orders of the politician, yet nobody, including the police, can do anything about this.

“The rest of us have been living in constant fear over the safety of our lives because of the threat from the politician and his agents on a daily basis.

“My daughter, Justina, could be killed if she ever steps foot in this land because the man is upset that she has caused him a lot of embarrassment by her refusal to marry him.

“We are worried and helpless. We don’t want our children to die at the hands of this powerful and ruthless group of individuals because my daughter refused to be blackmailed into a marriage she is not interested in.

“The world must come to our rescue before it is too late,” Onoja’s mother, Mary, told our correspondent during a chat earlier this week.

On the morning the abduction took place, she and her husband, Leonard, were lucky to have been attending an overnight prayer meeting at their local parish. Their capture by the armed gang could have added to the family’s misery, which appears to be endless at the moment.

Onoja, the 22-year-old lady at the centre of the entire saga, fled to the United Kingdom in November 2024 for safety concerns and to further her education after threats from the Benue lawmaker and his agents became too intense to bear.

A high-flying student in the UK, the constant threat to the safety of her parents and siblings in Benue by the lawmaker and his agents has left a huge mental toll on the young lady, who fears she could be eliminated by the group once she steps foot into Nigeria.

“He is not only a danger to me now; he has ensured that I do not have a safe place in Nigeria to return to anymore, as he has placed his agents in immigration and police to monitor my movement if I ever step foot in Nigeria at this time.

“My life and the safety of my family back home in Nigeria are completely in the hands of God as they are now,” Onoja said while holding back tears.

Rights activist, Adedeji Lambo, condemned the persecution of Onoja and her family members by the Benue lawmaker over her refusal to marry him.

According to him, using armed thugs and traditional institutions to blackmail the young lady into a marriage she is not interested in violates her rights as a human.

According to him, this was not only criminal on the part of the politician but also completely unacceptable under Nigerian laws.

He added that law enforcement agencies like the police must rise up to rescue many vulnerable individuals and families from the hands of powerful hawks who would stop at nothing to use their influence to violate the rights and safety of others in society.

Forced marriage, a form of emotional, psychological, physical, financial, and even sexual abuse, violates the right of a person to choose a spouse and enter a union freely, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which added that these are central to the lives of individuals, their dignity, and their equality as human beings.

In Nigeria, Section 13 of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015 (VAPP Act), criminalises and declares forced marriage as a harmful traditional practice, which is unlawful. But despite this law, the failure of many state governments to adopt it leaves many young women like Onoja at the mercy of powerful and ruthless hawks like the Benue lawmaker who will stop at nothing to crush those who turn down their love advances.