A mother of one of the freed NYSC members has revealed she paid N6 million to secure her son’s release.
The prospective corps members were kidnapped on October 1. Gunmen attacked two buses travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to the South East and South South states. The attack happened along the Owerri-Onitsha expressway in Imo State.
At first, the kidnappers asked for N50 million for each of the 19 abducted corps members. That totalled N950 million.
After the release, the mother spoke to News Central Television on Wednesday, October 7. She said the kidnappers first demanded N50 million per victim before settling for N6 million for her son.
“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. Later, we started begging them to take N500,000. But they said no and started scaring us,” she said in Yoruba.
“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 the kidnappers told families to send representatives to Ibadan for the ransom payment.
“They called all the parents of all the victims. 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.
“When they got to the meeting place, they asked them to send the money to an account and that when they got to Imo state, they should change the money into dollars.”
She said her elder son was among those who delivered the ransom.
“It is not rumours. They have all been released and sent to us. His brother is among the people who went to meet with the abductors three days ago. They left with the ransom,” she said.
“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 described her pain during the ordeal. “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.”
