Kidnappers slash NYSC ransom from ₦950m to ₦100m after deadline expires, parents name 7 abducted graduates

• Kidnappers have reduced the ransom for the abducted prospective corps members to ₦100 million.

• The families said the captives were being beaten and had been given a 24-hour ransom deadline.

• Police say they have located the suspected hideout but fear IEDs could endanger a rescue operation.

Pulse has been following the ordeal of the prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members abducted on their way to orientation camp on October 1. 

What started as a journey from Ibadan for the mandatory national service has left families desperately trying to raise money and pleading with authorities to bring their children home.

The situation became more frightening over the weekend after the kidnappers gave the families 24 hours to raise ₦950 billion or risk harm coming to the 19 graduates they were holding. The deadline expired on Sunday.

The abductors have since lowered their demand to ₦5 million per victim, bringing the total ransom to ₦100 million, but the reduction has done little to reassure the families. Instead, relatives say the captives are being beaten, including the female graduates.

“It has been horrible, scary and overwhelming,” Alimot Akande, whose sister, 25-year-old Kehinde Marufat Akande, is among those abducted, said.

Akande said the kidnappers had started beating the victims and were using their contact with relatives to determine who could raise money. “They are not sparing anybody. They are beating all of them,” she said.

One of the abducted graduates has reportedly been allowed to speak to his father when the kidnappers see the father's number calling. Akande said the abductors appeared to believe the father would be able to provide the ransom.

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“They know money will come out of 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,” she said.

The families had gone to the private residence of the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, in Bodija, Ibadan North Local Government Area, on Saturday in search of help.

Among the names released by the parents were Makinde Mary Oluwapelumi, Akande Kehinde Morufat, Abdul Temiloluwa Sarah, Adeniran Mariam Olulola, Adefioye Ayomide Isaac, Adewale Paul Iyanuoluwa and Oyede Esther Funmilayo.

The parents also challenged earlier reports that 10 passengers had been rescued by security operatives. They said those who escaped during the attack fled into the bush rather than being rescued by security personnel.

The account has added to the uncertainty surrounding the number of people initially taken. The Defence Headquarters had said 20 passengers were abducted, and 10 people, including eight prospective corps members, were subsequently rescued.

Meanwhile, security agencies say they know where the remaining victims are being held.

Imo State Commissioner of Police Audu Garba Bosso said surveillance drones had located the suspected camp after operatives tracked the kidnappers into the bush. 

But he said an immediate assault was considered too risky because intelligence suggested the area had been planted with improvised explosive devices.

The police are preparing bulldozers and armoured personnel carriers for the operation.

“We are moving in with bulldozers and APCs to see how we’re going to rescue these victims unhurt,” Bosso said.

The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, has also deployed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations, Shehu Nadada, alongside additional commissioners and tactical teams to reinforce the rescue effort.

The Olubadan assured the anxious families that their children would be brought back unharmed, while the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Abimbola, said he had been in contact with his Imo counterpart over the operation.

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“I want to assure you that your children would be rescued unharmed,” Ladoja told the parents.

The abduction happened on October 1 when two buses carrying graduates from Ibadan to NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom were attacked around Umunoha on the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Imo State. 

The families' account is that 30 people were travelling in the buses, 10 escaped into the bush and 20 were taken. The kidnappers initially demanded ₦50 million for each captive and gave the families 24 hours to raise the ₦1 billion total. 

After that deadline passed, the demand was reduced to ₦5 million per person. The families are now left facing a lower ransom and the fear that the young graduates are being physically abused while security agencies work to reach the camp.