Kidnappers holding 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps members abducted along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Imo State have reduced their ransom demand from N50 million to N5 million per victim, bringing the total demand to N100 million.
The development has offered little relief to the victims’ families, who say the abducted graduates are still being held and have allegedly been subjected to physical assault by their captors.
The prospective corps members were travelling from Ibadan to their NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states on Thursday when gunmen attacked the two buses conveying them around Umunoha on the Owerri-Onitsha Road.
One of the affected parents, Alhaja Alimot Akande, said the kidnappers initially demanded N50 million for each victim before reducing the amount to N5 million.
She said the families remained deeply worried despite the reduction because the victims were still in captivity and were allegedly being beaten.
According to her, the abductors had shown no restraint in their treatment of the victims, including the female passengers.
The parents also disputed earlier reports that 10 of the passengers had been rescued by security operatives, saying those who escaped from the attackers did so by fleeing into the bush.
Akande appealed to the Federal Government and security agencies to intensify efforts to rescue the abducted graduates.
She said the situation had become increasingly frightening after the families learnt that the captors had begun assaulting the victims.
The parent also disclosed that at least one of the abducted corps members had been allowed to speak with his father by telephone. She alleged, however, that the kidnappers were using the communication to assess the family’s ability to raise the ransom.
The families have reportedly been relying on assurances from security authorities that efforts are ongoing to secure the victims’ release.
