Kidnappers holding 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members in Imo State have reduced their ransom demand from N50m to N5m per victim, bringing the total demand down from N1bn to N100m.
The victims were abducted on Thursday while travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to their NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
Their parents say the abductors have also been beating the victims, prompting renewed calls for urgent government intervention.
One of the parents, Alhaja Alimot Akande, said the kidnappers had reduced the ransom but were still subjecting the graduates to physical assault.
“The kidnappers had reduced their demand from the earlier N50m per victim to N5m each,” she said.
“They are still demanding N5m. They have come down to N5m each.”
The victims were travelling in two buses when gunmen attacked them around Umunoha on the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Imo State.
Akande said the reduction in ransom had not eased the families’ fears because the victims remained in captivity.
“Sir, we appeal to the government at all levels to please assist us in getting them rescued out of that place. They have started beating them since yesterday,” she said.
“They are not sparing anybody. They are beating all of them.”
She said one of the victims had been allowed to speak with his father by telephone, but alleged that the kidnappers were using the calls to assess the family’s ability to raise the ransom.
The parents also disputed claims that 10 passengers were rescued by security operatives after the attack, saying those who escaped did so by fleeing into the bush.
The Imo State Police Command says security agencies are working to rescue the victims and have identified the location where they are being held.
Police spokesperson DSP Henry Okoye said operatives were closing in on the kidnappers.
“We’re conducting the operation and gradually closing in. We will keep you posted,” he said.
The Commissioner of Police in Imo State, Audu Bosso, said security operatives had used drones to locate the suspected camp after trailing the abductors into the bush.
He said they had delayed entering the area because intelligence indicated that the camp could have been fitted with improvised explosive devices.
“Our predicament is that with the intel we have, the camp is mined with IEDs,” Bosso said.
He said security agencies were preparing to enter the area with heavy equipment, including bulldozers and armoured personnel carriers, to rescue the victims safely.
The Public Relations Officer of the 34 Artillery Brigade, Owerri, Major Hashimu Abdullahi, said the army and other security agencies were working together on the operation.
“All necessary efforts are being made in collaboration with all relevant security agencies regarding the matter,” he said.
“We will keep you informed of any significant developments as they become available.”
The Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Abimbola, also said he had contacted his Imo counterpart and had been assured that the victims would be rescued unharmed.
“I had already contacted Imo State CP. We have been talking since the day of the incident, and he assured me that the victims would be rescued unhurt,” he said.
The abduction has renewed calls for changes to the NYSC scheme amid concerns about the safety of young graduates travelling to their places of national service.
The African Democratic Congress called for the suspension of the scheme for one year to allow the Federal Government to reorganise it and strengthen security arrangements.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the NYSC remained important to national unity but needed to reflect Nigeria’s current security realities.
“I think the NYSC is still relevant. But I think we need to respond to the current situation of insecurity in the country,” he said.
“If we were to advise the President, we think this is the time to suspend it for at least one year to give room for proper reorganisation.”
Other political parties and figures, including the National Democratic Congress, Labour Party, Social Democratic Party, Young Progressives Party, Peter Obi and Omoyele Sowore, also condemned the abduction and called for the victims’ immediate rescue.
Sowore called for the NYSC to be suspended and eventually scrapped, arguing that young Nigerians should not be compelled to travel to unsafe locations for national service.
Peter Obi described the abduction as another sign of worsening insecurity and called for the immediate and safe rescue of the victims.
“Protecting lives and property is the government’s foremost responsibility,” he said in a post on X.
The management of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, also expressed concern after learning that at least three of its graduates were among those abducted.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Razaq Kalilu called for coordinated efforts by security agencies to secure their release.
“Our immediate and overriding concern is their safety and safe return to their families,” he said.
The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, had also assured the parents that the victims would be rescued unharmed.
“I want to assure that your children would be rescued unharmed,” he said.
The families, however, say they remain deeply worried over the safety of the young graduates as they wait for their release.
