Abuja, Nigeria

December 3, 2016

My name is Jason. I am 36 years old, and I am a humanitarian worker. I work in high-risk areas around the world, and my job is to help build things that improve people's lives, such as schools, hospitals, libraries, and other such things. 

I am unmarried and travel often. I enjoy life this way. Earlier this year, a project to build a school in Nigeria came my way. I accepted it, even considering the potential danger to outsiders in this country. 

On August 18th, I flew to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. My plane arrived at 9 a.m., and at the airport, Jean Valdez, the representative from the company that flew me to Nigeria, greeted me with a car. 

Jean is a nice, soft-spoken Frenchman who has worked in Nigeria for many years. He told me about his time there as we walked to his car. After we had gathered my luggage, we headed out to the parking lot.

We loaded my things into his Jeep Grand Cherokee and drove away. Jean asked me if I'd like to go to my hotel or if I wouldn’t mind a detour along the Government Science Secondary School, where his girlfriend works.

I felt energized by being in a new country and opted for the detour. 

We drove north on Aiport Road. At the spaghetti junction Lugbe, we took a right onto Ring Road 3. I noticed a café on the right-hand side of the road and asked if we could stop. At the G-Classic Café, Jean said it wasn’t far from the school, but we could stop if I wanted to. 

So we stopped. We took a right into the parking lot, and Jean parked the car. As I exited the car and stretched my legs, I saw two Jeep 4x4s speed into the parking lot and block Jean’s Jeep. Four heavily armed guys got out. 2 out of each Jeep. The Jeep on the left was cream-coloured and newish. The Jeep on the right was brown and looked a bit like the one Jean was driving.

The two men who got out of the cream-coloured Jeep were taller than me—I'm 5ft 8. They were both black and wearing long pants and T-shirts. One guy was pointing a handgun at me, and the other guy had a rifle. 

The other two who got out of the brown Jeep were similar in appearance. Both are black, and they are wearing long pants and T-shirts. Only these guys had rifles. When I looked at Jean, I saw him pull a gun from a holster on his hip. He shot at the two guys by the cream-coloured Jeep. I'm pretty sure I heard four shots. 

I got down on the ground and covered my head. That’s when hands grabbed me and started pulling me away from our Jeep. Someone put a gun in my side and told me to get in the brown Jeep. 

I scanned the area for Jean but couldn’t see him, though I did see the cream-coloured Jeep driving away. I took in as much information as I could as I climbed into the backseat of the Jeep. The driver was a light-skinned black man, about 27, with short hair. He wore a red polo and a gold necklace. The interior of the Jeep was brown leather. The passenger was one of the two who had initially gotten out of the Jeep. He was also young, maybe 30, wearing a white T-shirt and a big gold watch. 

The third guy was sitting next to me in the backseat. He had what looked like an M762. Beryl pointed at me. He was thin; they were all thin. He looked older than the others, though; maybe he was 35. Like the others, he had short dark hair, but this guy had a moustache. He wore a yellow plaid button-down shirt.

The driver drove the Jeep on Ring Road 3, heading back toward the airport.

Sincerely,
Jason Jeffries