Abductors who seized 19 graduates travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to their National Youth Service Corps orientation camps in the South-East have demanded N950m for their release.
The victims were travelling in two buses when gunmen attacked them along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Umunoha, Imo State, on Thursday.
The Managing Director of Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nigeria Limited, Isiah Akpan, said the abductors demanded N50m for each victim.
According to him, the victims were prospective corps members heading to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
Akpan said the buses left Bodija/Samonda Park in Ibadan on Wednesday but were delayed by traffic around Benin, Edo State, before reaching Onitsha late in the day. The drivers and passengers spent the night in Oba because of the road condition and resumed their journey around 5am on Thursday.
He said the vehicles had barely entered Imo State when gunmen emerged from the bush, blocked both buses and took the 19 passengers into the bush.
The drivers reportedly escaped and alerted security personnel at a nearby checkpoint, prompting the police and military to launch a search operation.
The Imo State Police Command had earlier announced that 10 victims were rescued. However, the Police Public Relations Officer, Henry Okoye, could not confirm whether the rescued victims were among the abducted prospective corps members.
A mother of one of the victims, Mrs Oladosu, said the abductors contacted her family using her daughter’s phone and showed the victims during a video call.
“They used my daughter’s number to call us. We saw her and other corps members sitting on the ground in the bush, crying. Where will petty traders get N50m? They are just going to serve Nigeria; why this punishment?” she said.
Another victim, Akande Farouq, who was posted to Abia State, reportedly sent a one-word message, “Kidnappers!”, to his family WhatsApp group before his phone went off.
A manifest from the two buses listed 30 passengers, with 15 on each vehicle, although the company said 19 prospective corps members were abducted. Two other buses belonging to the same company and heading to Abia State reportedly escaped the attack.
Friends of some of the victims have launched social media campaigns seeking their rescue, with one of the abducted graduates identified as Precious Oladipupo of Obafemi Awolowo University.
The Oyo State Government condemned the abduction and said it was working with security agencies, the Imo State Government and the NYSC leadership to secure the victims’ release.
The Commissioner for Information, Dotun Oyelade, said Governor Seyi Makinde had directed that all necessary resources be deployed to secure the safe return of the victims.
The government urged the affected families to remain calm and called on security agencies to intensify efforts to rescue the victims and apprehend the perpetrators.