Kidnappers who abducted prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members in Imo State initially demanded N50 million for each victim before reducing the ransom to N6 million, the mother of one of the freed victims has said.
The woman, whose son was among the victims, said her family eventually paid N6 million to secure his release after days of negotiations with the abductors.
The prospective corps members were kidnapped on October 1 after gunmen attacked two 18-seater buses conveying them from Ibadan, Oyo State, along the Owerri-Onitsha Expressway.
Speaking after her son’s release, the mother said the kidnappers initially demanded N50 million for each of the victims.
“Initially, they asked us to pay N50 million per head. We asked whether the amount was for all of them, but they insisted that no, it was for each person,” she said.
She said the kidnappers later reduced the demand to N15 million before eventually agreeing to accept N6 million from her family.
“Three days ago, they called and said we should pay N15 million. We kept begging them that all we had was N5.5 million. They said no and insisted on N6 million. So, it's that N6 million we paid,” she said.
According to the mother, the families were later directed to send representatives to meet the kidnappers in Ibadan to arrange the ransom payment.
She said about 20 of the victims were still being held in the bush at the time, with the abductors asking each family to send three representatives.
“Twenty of them are in the bush. They then asked us to send three persons each to meet with them in Ibadan. My husband and my son's elder brother went,” she said.
She added that the representatives were instructed to transfer the ransom to an account before converting the money to dollars after arriving in Imo State.
Her elder son was among those who went to meet the kidnappers and deliver the ransom.
The mother said the family received confirmation of her son's release after his brother called to say the ransom had been delivered and the victim had been freed.
“It was the brother who called us this evening to say that they had handed the ransom to the kidnappers and that they had released our son. We also spoke to the boy,” she said.
She said the ordeal left her traumatised and unable to sleep while her son remained in captivity.
“Since he was kidnapped, I have been stooling. I couldn't sleep either. But I was relieved when I heard they had been released. It was as though the chains all over me were loosened,” she said.
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