A mother of one of the freed members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), abducted along the Owerri-Onitsha expressway last Thursday, says N6 million was paid to secure the release of her son.
She spoke in an interview
with News Central Television on Wednesday, where she said the
abductors initially demanded N50 million for each victim before eventually
settling for N6 million for her son.
“Initially, they asked us to pay N50 million per head. We
asked whether the amount was for all of them, but they insisted that no, it was
for each person. Later, we started begging them to take N500,000. But they said
no and started scaring us,” she said in Yoruba.
“Three days ago, they called and said we should pay N15
million. We kept begging them that all we had was N5.5 million. They said no
and insisted on N6 million. So, it’s that N6 million we paid.”
Asked how they paid the ransom, she said the abductors asked
the victims’ parents to send three representatives to meet with them in Ibadan.
“They called all the parents of all the victims. Twenty of
them are in the bush. They then asked us to send three persons each to meet
with them in Ibadan. My husband and my son’s elder brother went.
“When they got to the meeting place, they asked them to send
the money to an account and that when they got to Imo state, they should change
the money into dollars.”
The woman said her elder son was among those who met with
the abductors and took the ransom to them.
“It is not rumours. They have all been released and sent to
us. His brother is among the people who went to meet with the abductors three
days ago. They left with the ransom,” she said.
“It was the brother who called us this evening to say that
they had handed the ransom to the kidnappers and that they had released our
son. We also spoke to the boy.”
The woman, whose name was not disclosed in the interview,
said the trauma of her son’s abduction left her unable to sleep throughout the
period he was in captivity.
“Since he was kidnapped, I have been stooling. I couldn’t
sleep either. But I was relieved when I heard they had been released. It was as
though the chains all over me were loosened,” she said.
BACK STORY
The prospective NYSC members
were abducted in
the early hours of October 1 after gunmen attacked two 18-seater buses carrying
passengers from Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, before corralling them into the
forest.
According to a viral video circulated on X, the victims were
travelling to Akwa Ibom and Abia states in buses branded with the Abia state
government logo when the attackers intercepted the vehicles and robbed the
passengers.
Confirming the abduction, Henry Okoye, police spokesperson
in Imo state, said the incident occurred at
about 6:30am, adding that 10 of the victims were rescued immediately.
Okoye said security operatives subsequently commenced
search-and-rescue operations backed by intelligence to track the suspects and
rescue the remaining victims.
On Saturday, the abductors contacted parents
of the corps members, handing them 24 hours to pay N1 billion ransom for their
children’s release.
However, they later reduced the ransom to N5 million per
head, totalling N100 million for all the victims.
Reacting, Tunji Disu, Inspector-General of police (IGP),
deployed Shehu Nadada, Deputy Inspector-General of police (DIG) in charge of
operations, to coordinate efforts to rescue the corps members.
Anietie Iniedu, spokesperson of the Nigeria Police Force
(NPF), said Nadada had arrived in Imo with two commissioners of police and
conducted an on-the-spot assessment of the operation.
He said the DIG reviewed the deployment of personnel and
operational assets and issued directives to strengthen the coordinated
response.
Announcing the release
of the victims in a statement on Wednesday, the force spokesperson
said the operation that led to their rescue was carried out by a joint team of
operatives from the Department of State Services (DSS), military and police.
“The victims were rescued on 7th October 2026 at Amakohia
Ubi Village, Imo State, following sustained search-and-rescue operations. They
have since been taken for medical assessment and necessary care,” the statement
reads.
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