Kidnappers Torture 20 Prospective Corps Members, Others, Cut Ransom to #5 Million Each — Relatives
||By Chidi Nkwopara & Adeola Badru of the Vanguard Newspapers
The 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, members abducted while travelling from Ibadan to their orientation camps in the South-East are allegedly being subjected to physical assault by their captors, with their relatives appealing to the government to intensify efforts to secure their release.
The victims, who were abducted last Thursday along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Umunoha, Imo State, were reportedly travelling to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states when the vehicles conveying them came under attack by gunmen.
The development has heightened anxiety among the families of the victims, particularly after the kidnappers reportedly reduced their ransom demand from N50 million to N5 million for each of the 20 abducted prospective corps members.
The initial demand of N50 million per victim amounted to N1 billion, with the abductors reportedly giving the families a 24-hour ultimatum to raise the money or risk harm to the victims.
The parents had earlier sought the intervention of the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, during a visit to his private residence in Bodija, Ibadan. They were accompanied by the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Abimbola, and the Aseyin of Iseyinland, Oba Sefiu Adeyeri.
One of the affected parents, Alhaja Alimot Akande, said the abductors had allegedly started assaulting the victims, including the female prospective corps members.
Akande, whose 25-year-old sister, Kehinde Akande, is among those abducted, said the reduction in the ransom had not eased the families’ anxiety because the victims remained in captivity.
“They are still demanding N5 million. They have come down to N5 million each,” she said.
Asked whether the amount was being demanded for each of the 20 victims, she replied, “Yes.”
Akande said she could not ascertain how much the families had collectively raised, explaining that she was not privy to the individual arrangements between the abductors and other parents.
“I cannot say because I do not know how much they have told those people that they have,” she said.
Describing the situation as “horrible, scary and overwhelming,” Akande appealed to the government to intensify efforts to rescue 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.
Asked whether the female victims were also being assaulted, she said, “They are not sparing anybody. They are beating all of them.”
Akande also disclosed that one of the abducted prospective corps members had been allowed to communicate with his father, alleging that the abductors were monitoring the family’s ability to raise the ransom through the calls.
She said the kidnappers would alert the victim whenever his father called and allow him to speak with him because they believed the father could raise the money being demanded.
She added that the victim had also allegedly been subjected to assault.
“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.”
According to Akande, the families have been relying on assurances from the police.
Source: Vanguard Newspapers
Kidnappers Torture 20 Prospective Corps Members, Others, Cut Ransom to #5 Million Each — Relatives
Byadmin
Oct 5, 2026