The mother of one of the freed prospective members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Alirat Wahab, has disclosed that her family paid ₦6m to secure her son’s release from kidnappers.
Wahab made the revelation during an interview with News Central Television on Wednesday, explaining that the abductors initially demanded ₦50m for each victim before eventually agreeing to accept a lower amount.
She said the family pleaded with the kidnappers to accept ₦500,000 but their demands remained high.
“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.
According to Wahab, the kidnappers later reduced their demand to ₦15m, but her family told them they could only raise ₦5.5m. The abductors, however, insisted on ₦6m, which the family eventually paid.
“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.”
Wahab explained that the abductors instructed the parents of the victims to send representatives to meet them in Ibadan to facilitate 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,” she added.
She said her husband and eldest son were among those who travelled to meet the kidnappers and were given instructions on how to transfer the money.
“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.”
Wahab confirmed that her son had been released alongside the other abducted prospective corps members, adding that she received the news after the ransom was delivered.
“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 also recounted the emotional and physical distress she experienced while her son was in captivity, saying the uncertainty left her unable to sleep.
“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.
The prospective corps members were reportedly abducted in the early hours of October 1 after gunmen attacked two 18-seater buses conveying passengers from Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, along the Owerri-Onitsha Expressway.
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The passengers were reportedly taken into a forest after the attackers intercepted the vehicles. A viral video shared on X showed the buses bearing the Abia State Government logo. The passengers were travelling to Akwa Ibom and Abia states.
The Imo State Police spokesperson, Henry Okoye, confirmed the incident, saying it occurred at about 6:30am. He added that 10 victims were rescued shortly after the attack, while security operatives launched intelligence-backed search-and-rescue operations to locate the remaining abductees.
On Saturday, the kidnappers reportedly contacted the victims’ parents and demanded ₦1bn as ransom, giving them 24 hours to pay. The demand was later reduced to ₦5m per person, amounting to ₦100m for the 20 victims.