IBADAN— AS the deadline for payment expires within hours, the 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, members abducted in Imo State are being subjected to severe beatings by their captors, including the female victims, Vanguard has learned.
This came as it was learned yesterday that the kidnappers reduced their ransom to N5million each.
Recall that the prospective corps members were abducted last Thursday while travelling from Ibadan to their respective NYSC orientation camps.The vehicles were attacked by gunmen along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Umunoha, Imo State, while the graduates were travelling to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The abduction triggered immediate concern among the affected families, particularly after the parents said the kidnappers initially demanded N50m for each of the 20 victims, amounting to N1bn, and gave them a 24-hour ultimatum to produce the money or risk harm coming to their children.
The parents had earlier sought the intervention of the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, during a visit to his private residence in Bodija, Ibadan, where they were accompanied by the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Abimbola, and the Aseyin of Iseyinland, Oba Sefiu Adeyeri.
Our children are being tortured — Victims’ parents
Meanwhile, one of the affected parents, Alhaja Alimot Akande, said the abductors had subjected the victims to physical assault since the previous day, adding that the situation had become “horrible, scary and overwhelming” for the families.
The latest revelation came as Oyo State government said it was working closely with its Imo State counterpart and security agencies in both states, using its experience from the recent Oriire abduction crisis as a template to secure the release of the 20 graduates.
Akande, whose 25-year-old sister, Kehinde Akande, is among those abducted, said the kidnappers had reduced their demand from the earlier N50m per victim to N5m each.
She said the reduction had not, however, eased the anxiety of the families because the victims were still being held and allegedly beaten by their captors.
“They are still demanding N5 million. They have come down to N5 million each,” she said.
Asked whether the N5m was being demanded for each of the 20 abducted prospective corps members, she replied, “Yes.”
Akande, however, said she could not confirm how much had been raised by the families towards the ransom, explaining that she was not privy to the individual arrangements between the kidnappers and the other parents.
“I cannot say because I do not know how much they have told those people that they have,” she said.
Asked to describe the situation from her perspective, Akande said: “It has been horrible, scary and overwhelming.”
The situation, according to her, became more disturbing after she spoke with her sister and learned that the abductors had begun beating the victims.
“We appeal to the government to please assist us in getting them rescued from that place. When I spoke to my sister, they started beating them yesterday (Sunday),” she said.
Asked whether the female corps members were also being assaulted, she said the kidnappers had shown no restraint.
“They are not sparing anybody. They are beating all of them,” she said.
Akande also disclosed that one of the abducted corps members had been allowed to communicate with his father, but noted that the calls were allegedly being used by the kidnappers as an avenue to monitor the family’s ability to raise money.
According to her, the abductors will alert the victim whenever his father’s call came in and allow him to speak because they believe the father can provide the ransom.
She said: “His father has been communicating with him. The kidnappers give him access to a telephone. Whenever his father calls, they show him that a call came in for him. He would just say, ‘Oh, that’s my father.’
“They know money will come out of his 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.”
The parent also disclosed that the families had been relying on assurances from the police, while efforts continued to secure the money demanded by the abductors.
“The police are telling us to still buy time. We are still looking for the money. Depending on it, they will see them rescued,” she said.
Asked whether she was also directly affected by the incident, Akande replied: “I am. My sister was abducted.”
She identified her sister as Kehinde Akande and said she was 25 years old.