Twenty prospective members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) abducted in Imo State are reportedly being subjected to severe beatings by their captors as their families race to raise the ransom demanded for their release.
The abductors have reduced the ransom from N50 million to N5 million for each victim, bringing the total demand for the 20 graduates to N100 million.
The prospective corps members were kidnapped last Thursday while travelling from Ibadan to their respective NYSC orientation camps.
Their vehicles were attacked by gunmen along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Umunoha, Imo State, while they were heading to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The abduction has left families of the victims in distress, particularly after the kidnappers initially demanded N50 million per person — a total of N1 billion — and gave the families a 24-hour deadline to pay or risk harm to their children.
One of the affected relatives, Alhaja Alimot Akande, said the victims were physically assaulted by the kidnappers, describing the situation as “horrible, scary and overwhelming.”
She said the ransom had now been reduced but the development had not brought relief because the graduates remained in captivity.
“They are still demanding N5 million. They have come down to N5 million each,” she said.
Asked if the amount was being demanded for each of the 20 abducted prospective corps members, she replied, “Yes.”
Akande said she could not ascertain how much had so far been raised by the families because she was not aware of the separate arrangements between the abductors and individual parents.
“I cannot say because I do not know how much they have told those people that they have,” she said.
Describing the ordeal, she said: “It has been horrible, scary and overwhelming.”
According to Akande, the situation became more frightening after she spoke with her sister and learnt that the abductors had started beating the victims.
“We appeal to the government to please assist us in getting them rescued from that place. When I spoke to my sister, they started beating them yesterday (Sunday),” she said.
She said the female victims were also being assaulted.
“They are not sparing anybody. They are beating all of them,” she said.
Akande also disclosed that one of the abducted graduates had been allowed to speak with his father, but said the kidnappers appeared to be using the calls to assess the family’s ability to raise 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 him. He would just say, ‘Oh, that’s my father.’
“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.”
She said the families were still depending on assurances from the police while efforts were being made to raise the ransom.
“The police are telling us to still buy time. We are still looking for the money. Depending on it, they will see them rescued,” she said.
Asked if she was personally affected by the abduction, Akande said: “I am. My sister was abducted.”
She identified her sister as Kehinde Akande, 25.
The parents of the victims have also accused the transport company that conveyed the graduates from Ibadan of withholding information that could help families locate and contact other passengers’ relatives.
The parents said they visited Eduak King Transport Company in Samonda, Ibadan, seeking the next-of-kin details of passengers who were on the affected vehicles, but alleged that the company declined to provide the information.
Mrs Iyabo Akande, whose daughter, Kehinde, is among those in captivity, called on the Inspector-General of Police and the government to investigate the transport operator.
“Our government and the Inspector-General of Police should help us investigate the transport company, Eduak King, located at the Samonda area of the state and call them to order.
“We were at their office yesterday morning (Sunday morning) asking for the next of kin list so we could contact other parents, but they refused to present it or assist us. The company’s driver, Jeremiah, took our children. They must be held accountable.”
Another parent, Olawale Olaleye, expressed concern that the transport company was still operating despite the incident.
He said the parents were surprised to see another vehicle being loaded when they visited the company’s premises.
“We went to Samonda, to Eduak King. Surprisingly, they were already loading another vehicle. People are complaining; the company should be held liable.”
Meanwhile, the Oyo State government said it was working with the Imo State government and security agencies in both states to secure the release of the abducted graduates.
The state Commissioner for Information, Dotun Oyelade, said Oyo was actively involved despite the abduction taking place outside the state.
He said the government was drawing on its experience from the recent Oriire abduction crisis in its engagement with the authorities in Imo State.
“We are in close contact at government-to-government level and actively working with the security apparatus in Oyo and Imo states.
“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.”
Oyelade said the government would not disclose every detail of its strategy because of the sensitive nature of the rescue operation.
“Governments all over the world are not in the habit of disclosing all they are planning in delicate situations like this,” he said.
The commissioner, however, said the federal government and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces should explain the broader national security response to the incident.
“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.
Oyelade also linked the state’s position to Governor Seyi Makinde’s recent intervention in the abduction of students in Borno State.
“It was in recognition of this that Governor Seyi Makinde appealed to the federal government last week to expedite ac
