Kidnappers holding 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps members abducted along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Imo State have reduced their ransom demand from N50m to N5m per victim, bringing the total demand down from N1bn to N100m.
The development came as the victims’ parents disclosed that the abducted graduates were being beaten by their captors, heightening fears over their safety and prompting renewed calls for urgent government intervention.
One of the affected parents, Alhaja Alimot Akande, who spoke through one of her daughters in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Sunday, said the abductors had subjected the victims to physical assault since Friday.
Akande said the reduction in the ransom had not eased the families’ anxiety because the victims remained in captivity and were allegedly being brutalized.
“The kidnappers had reduced their demand from the earlier N50m per victim to N5m each,” she said.
“They are still demanding N5m. They have come down to N5m each.”
The prospective corps members were travelling from Ibadan to their NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states on Thursday when gunmen attacked the two buses conveying them around Umunoha on the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Imo State.
Some of the names released by the parents are Makinde Mary Oluwapelumi, Akande Kehinde Morufat, Abdul Temiloluwa Sarah, Adeniran Mariam Olulola, Adefioye Ayomide Isaac, Adewale Paul Iyanuoluwa and Oyede Esther Funmilayo.
The names were released by the parents during a visit to the private residence of the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, in Bodija, Ibadan North Local Government Area, on Saturday.
The parents also disputed claims that 10 passengers were rescued by security operatives after the attack, saying those who escaped did so by fleeing into the bush.
The Managing Director of Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nigeria Limited, Isiah Akpan, had confirmed the initial N50m ransom demand per victim to The PUNCH on Friday.
Akande said she could not confirm how much the families had raised towards the ransom, explaining that she was not privy to the arrangements between the kidnappers and the other parents.
“I cannot say because I do not know how much they have told those people that they have,” she said.
Describing the situation, she said, “It has been horrible, scary, and overwhelming.”
She added that the situation became more disturbing after she learned that the abductors had started beating the victims.
“Sir, we appeal to the government at all levels to please assist us in getting them rescued out of that place. They have started beating them since yesterday,” she said.
Asked whether the female corps members were also being assaulted, Akande said the kidnappers had shown no restraint.
“They are not sparing anybody. They are beating all of them,” she said.
She further disclosed that one of the abducted corps members had been allowed to communicate with his father but alleged that the kidnappers were using the calls to assess the family’s ability to raise the ransom.
“The abductors would alert the victim whenever his father’s call came in and allow him to speak because they believed the father could provide the ransom. 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 you. He would just say, ‘Oh, that’s my father.’
“They know money will come out of 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 parent said the families had been relying on assurances from the police while efforts continued to raise the ransom.
“The police are telling us to still be buying time. We are still looking for the money. Depending, they will see them rescued,” she said.
The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Ladoja, had on Saturday assured the parents that their children would be rescued unharmed.
“I want to assure that your children would be rescued unharmed. We will relate whatever information we gather to you. The police are working round the clock to secure their rescue. Don’t worry yourself, the police are up to the task, and nothing would happen to your children,” he said.
Also speaking, the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Abimbola, said he had contacted his counterpart in Imo State and that efforts were underway to secure the victims’ rescue.
“I had already contacted Imo State CP. We have been talking since the day of the incident, and he assured me that the victims would be rescued unhurt,” he said.
Credit: (PUNCH excluding headline)
