₦950 Million Ransom Plunges Families Of Abducted Prospective NYSC Members Into Panic

Families of the 19 abducted graduates travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, for their National Youth Service Corps orientation camps have been devastated by the abductors’ demand of ₦950 million for their release.

Naija News recalls that the victims were heading to Abia and Akwa Ibom orientation camps when gunmen attacked them along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Umunoha, Imo State.

The Managing Director of Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nigeria Limited, Isiah Akpan, in an interview with PUNCH, confirmed the gunmen demanded ₦50 million for each of the victims.

Recounting how the incident happened, Akpan said the two buses left Bodija/Samonda Park in Ibadan on Wednesday but were delayed by traffic around Benin, Edo State, before they eventually reached Onitsha, Anambra State, late in the day.

He said they could not continue the journey because of the road conditions, forcing the drivers and passengers to spend the night in Oba.

Akpan said the buses resumed their journey around 5 am on Thursday and had barely entered Imo State when gunmen emerged from the bush, but the drivers managed to escape and alerted security personnel at a nearby checkpoint, prompting the police and military to begin searching the area.

According to him, the search operation was initially complicated when some villagers allegedly prevented security personnel from removing the abandoned buses from the scene.

Akpan said the villagers’ action delayed the movement of security personnel as they attempted to pursue the abductors, and the two buses were subsequently left at the scene, with passengers’ belongings scattered inside the vehicles.

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

Also, a parent of one of the victims, who also spoke to the aforementioned publication, said the abductors contacted her through her son’s phone and demanded ₦50 million for his release.

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

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

She said the family saw Greatness and other victims during a video call.

She added, “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?”