…to pressurise parents to quickly pay up
Kidnappers of the 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps members abducted last week along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Imo State have slashed their ransom demand from N1billion to N100million.
This brings down the ransom to be paid on each of the abducted corps members to N5million from the initial N50million demanded by their kidnappers.
This was revealed as the parents of victims also disclosed that the abducted prospective corps members were being beaten and brutalised by their captors to pressurise their parents to quickly raise the ransom demanded.
This development has however raised fears about the corps members’ safety in the kidnappers’ den.
Speaking through her daughter in Ibadan Oyo State, one of the affected parents, Alhaja Alimot Akande, said on Sunday that the kidnappers had been subjecting the young victims to serious beatings since Friday.
According to Akande, the kidnappers’ brutal actions against the victims had heightened the parents’ fears about their children’s continued stay in the kidnappers’ den.
She said, “The kidnappers had reduced their demand from the earlier N50m per victim to N5m each.
“They are still demanding N5m. They have come down to N5m each.”
Recall that the prospective corps members were travelling from Ibadan to their NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states last Thursday when gunmen attacked the two buses conveying them around Umunoha on the Owerri-Onitsha highway in Imo State.
The names of some of the kidnapped victims released by the parents include Makinde Mary Oluwapelumi, Akande Kehinde Morufat, Abdul Temiloluwa Sarah, Adeniran Mariam Olulola, Adefioye Ayomide Isaac, Adewale Paul Iyanuoluwa and Oyede Esther Funmilayo.
Their parents released their names on Saturday when they besieged the private residence of the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, in Bodija, Ibadan North Local Government Area, to plead for his intervention.
The distraught 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.
On Friday, the Managing Director of Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nigeria Limited, Isiah Akpan, had confirmed the initial N50m ransom per victim demanded by the kidnappers.
Meanwhile, Akande said she was not in a position to confirm how much the families had so far raised towards paying the ransom, adding that she was not privy to the 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, adding that the situation had been “horrible, scary and overwhelming.”
Akande further stated that the situation became more disturbing after she learnt that the kidnappers had started beating and brutalising the young victims, making urgent appeal to the government and security agencies to expedite action on rescuing them from the kidnappers.
“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.
Asked whether the female corps members were also being assaulted, Akande said the kidnappers had shown no restraint.
“They are not sparing anybody. They are beating all of them,” she said.
Akande however disclosed that one of the abducted corps members had been allowed to speak on the phone with his father, alleging that the kidnappers were using the calls to assess the family’s ability to raise the ransom.
She added, “The abductors would alert the victim whenever his father’s call came in and allow him to speak because they believed the father could provide the ransom. 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 you. He would just say, ‘Oh, that’s my father.’
“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.”
The parent said the families had been relying on assurances from the police while efforts continued towards raising the ransom.
“The police are telling us to still be buying time. We are still looking for the money. Depending, they will see them rescued,” she said.
On Saturday, Oba Ladoja had assured the parents that their children would be rescued unharmed.
“I want to assure that your children would be rescued unharmed. We will relate whatever information we gather to you. The police are working round the clock to secure their rescue. Don’t worry yourself, the police are up to the task, and nothing would happen to your children,” he said.
Also speaking, the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Abimbola, said he had contacted his counterpart in Imo State and that efforts were underway to secure the victims’ rescue.
“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.
