BREAKING NEWS: Kidnappers Reduce Ransom for 20 Prospective Corps Members to N100m

Kidnappers Reduce Ransom for 20 Prospective Corps Members to N100m

Kidnappers holding 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members abducted along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Imo State have reportedly reduced their ransom demand from N50 million to N5 million per victim.

The reduction brings the total ransom being demanded for the release of the 20 victims from an initial N1 billion to N100 million.

However, the development has done little to ease the anxiety of the victims’ families, as relatives disclosed that the abducted graduates were allegedly being subjected to physical assault by their captors.

One of the affected parents, Alhaja Alimot Akande, who spoke through one of her daughters in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Sunday, said the victims had reportedly been beaten by the kidnappers since Friday.

According to her, although the reduction in ransom was welcomed, the continued detention and alleged maltreatment of the prospective corps members remained a major concern for their families.

“The kidnappers had reduced their demand from the earlier N50 million per victim to N5 million each. They are still demanding N5 million. They have come down to N5 million each,” she said.

The 20 prospective corps members were reportedly travelling from Ibadan to their NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states on Thursday when gunmen attacked the two buses conveying them.

The incident occurred around Umunoha on the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Imo State.

With the victims still in captivity, their families have intensified calls for urgent government intervention to secure their safe release and prevent further harm to the abducted graduates.