Families of the 19 prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members abducted in Imo State are in distress after the kidnappers demanded a ransom of ₦950 million for their release.
The graduates were travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states when gunmen attacked their buses along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Umunoha, Imo State.
Managing Director of Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nigeria Limited, Isiah Akpan, told PUNCH that the abductors are demanding ₦50 million for each victim.
Akpan said the two buses left Bodija/Samonda Park in Ibadan on Wednesday but were delayed by traffic around Benin, Edo State. They eventually reached Onitsha, Anambra State, late in the day, but could not continue because of bad road conditions, so the drivers and passengers spent the night in Oba.
According to him, the buses set off again around 5 am on Thursday. They had barely entered Imo State when gunmen emerged from the bush. The drivers escaped and alerted security personnel at a nearby checkpoint, and police and military operatives began a search of the area.
Akpan alleged that the operation was initially hampered when some villagers prevented security personnel from removing the abandoned buses from the scene. He said this delayed the pursuit of the abductors, and the buses were left behind with the passengers’ belongings scattered inside.
“They blocked the two vehicles and took 19 passengers, all corps members, into the bush,” he said.
A parent of one of the victims also told the newspaper that the kidnappers called her on Friday morning using her son’s phone and demanded ₦50 million for his release alone.
Another mother, Mrs Oladosu, whose daughter, Greatness, was heading to Uyo, said the abductors called the family briefly from her daughter’s phone. During a video call, the family saw Greatness and other victims 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 said.
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