NYSC Kidnappers Cut Ransom Demand to ₦100 Million

Kidnappers holding 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps members in Imo State have reduced their ransom demand from N1 billion to N100 million, as relatives said the victims were being beaten and calls grew for their immediate rescue.

The victims were abducted on Thursday while travelling from Ibadan to their orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states when gunmen attacked two buses along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Umunoha, Imo State.

The kidnappers initially demanded N50 million per victim and gave families 24 hours to raise the N1 billion total.

The demand has now been reduced to N5 million per victim, according to Alhaja Alimot Akande, whose 25-year-old sister, Kehinde Akande, is among those abducted.

“They are still demanding N5 million. They have come down to N5 million each,” Akande said.

Asked whether the amount applied to all 20 victims, she replied, “Yes.”

The reduction in the ransom has not eased the families’ anxiety, with relatives alleging the captives are being physically assaulted.

“It has been horrible, scary and overwhelming,” Akande said.

“When I spoke to my sister, they started beating them yesterday (Sunday).”

Asked whether female victims were also being beaten, she said, “They are not sparing anybody. They are beating all of them.”

Akande also said one of the abducted corps members had been allowed to communicate with his father, but alleged the kidnappers were monitoring the calls to assess the family’s ability to pay.

“His father has been communicating with him. The kidnappers give him access to a telephone. Whenever his father calls, they show him that a call came in for him,” she said.

“They know money will come out of his father’s hands, so they would just pick it and allow him to talk. And they have been beating him. They have been beating all of them.”

The families have been relying on assurances from the police while trying to raise the money.

“The police are telling us to still be buying time. We are still looking for the money. Depending on it, they will see them rescued,” Akande said.

The Oyo State Government said it was working with the Imo State Government and security agencies in both states to secure the victims’ release.

Commissioner for Information Dotun Oyelade said the state was drawing on its experience from the recent Oriire abduction and the report of the Judicial Inquiry submitted by the Justice Mojeed Owoade Panel.

“We are in close contact at government-to-government level and actively working with the security apparatus in Oyo and Imo states,” Oyelade said.

“We are volunteering our template and experiences garnered during the Oriire kidnapping, and the report of the Judicial Inquiry just submitted last week by the Justice Mojeed Owoade Panel is coming in handy in our bilateral discussions on the matter.”

He added that the National Government and the Commander-in-Chief should provide answers on the broader national security response.

“The pushback should be on the Federal Government and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, who are in charge of national security, on what they have done in 72 hours,” he said.

Imo State Commissioner of Police Audu Bosso said security operatives had located the hideout where the victims were being held, using drones to track the abductors.

“Any moment, we’ll still move into the bush. Yesterday, we were in the bush; we trailed them up to a particular location. But at that point in time, we couldn’t move in to where the coordinates showed us because we ran drones yesterday. And the drone actually showed us exactly their location.

“But our predicament is that with the intel we have, the camp is mined with IEDs,” he said.

He said security forces were preparing to deploy heavy equipment, including bulldozers and armoured personnel carriers, to gain access and rescue the victims.

The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, had deployed the Deputy Inspector-General in charge of Operations, Shehu Nadada, to Imo State with two Commissioners of Police to coordinate the rescue operation.