Kidnappers demand ₦950m ransom for 19 abducted corps members

The families of 19 NYSC corps members kidnapped while en route from Ibadan to their various NYSC orientation camps have been left worried after being told by kidnappers to pay a ransom of ₦950 million.

Isiah Akpan, Managing Director, Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nigeria Limited, disclosed this during an interview with The PUNCH newspaper. According to him, the kidnappers demanded ₦50 million for each one of them.

Recounting how the incident occurred, Akpan said the two buses conveying the prospective corps members departed Bodija/Samonda Park in Ibadan on Wednesday but encountered traffic around Benin, Edo State, delaying their journey.

He explained that the vehicles eventually arrived in Onitsha, Anambra State, late in the day but could not proceed because of the road conditions, forcing the drivers and passengers to spend the night in Oba.

According to him, the buses resumed the journey at about 5am on Thursday and had barely entered Imo State when armed men emerged from the bush and intercepted them.

Akpan said the drivers managed to escape and alerted security personnel at a nearby checkpoint, prompting the police and military to launch a search operation in the area.

He, however, disclosed that the operation was initially hampered when some villagers allegedly prevented security personnel from moving the abandoned buses away from the scene.

Akpan said the action delayed security personnel as they attempted to pursue the abductors, adding that the vehicles were eventually left at the scene with passengers’ belongings scattered inside.

He said, “They blocked the two vehicles and took 19 passengers, all corps members, into the bush.”

Meanwhile, a parent of one of the abducted graduates told The PUNCH that the kidnappers contacted her through her son’s phone on Friday and demanded ₦50 million for his release.

“The kidnappers called with my son’s phone this morning (Friday) and demanded N50m for his release. The N50m is for only my son,” she said.

Similarly, another parent, identified as Mrs Oladosu, whose daughter, Greatness, was travelling to Uyo, said the abductors briefly contacted the family using her daughter’s phone.

She disclosed that the family saw Greatness and some of the other victims during a video call, with the abducted graduates reportedly seated on the ground in a bush.

“They used my daughter’s number to call us. We saw her and other corps members sitting on the ground in the bush, crying. Where will petty traders get N50m? They are just going to serve Nigeria; why this punishment?” she lamented.

The reported ransom demand has heightened anxiety among the families, many of whom are now faced with the challenge of raising the amount demanded for the release of their loved ones.