IBADAN, Nigeria — Families of prospective National Youth Service Corps members abducted while travelling through Imo State say their relatives are being beaten in captivity as the kidnappers demand ₦5 million for each person still being held.
The abductors had initially sought ₦50 million per victim, according to relatives and the transport company that conveyed the graduates.
The latest demand would amount to ₦100 million if all 20 people whom the families say remain captive are covered by it.
Alimot Akande, whose 25-year-old sister, Kehinde Akande, is among those missing, said on Sunday, October 4, 2026, that she had spoken with her sister and learnt that the captives were being physically assaulted.
“They are not sparing anybody. They are beating all of them,” Akande said.
Her account has not been independently verified, and security agencies have not publicly described the captives’ condition.
Families Receive Reduced Ransom Demand
Akande said the kidnappers had lowered their demand substantially from the amount first communicated to the families.
“They are still demanding N5 million. They have come down to N5 million each,” she said.
She said she did not know how much money the affected families had been able to assemble or whether individual negotiations were taking place with different households.
“It has been horrible, scary and overwhelming,” she said.
The families say the kidnappers have permitted limited telephone contact with some of the hostages, including allowing one man to speak with his father.
Akande alleged that the captors were using those conversations to gauge whether relatives could produce ransom payments.
Isiah Akpan, managing director of Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nigeria Limited, separately confirmed the initial demand of ₦ 50 million for each victim, according to Channels Television.
Graduates Were Travelling to Orientation Camps
The victims were travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, in two buses when gunmen intercepted the vehicles around Umunoha on the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Mbaitoli Local Government Area.
They were heading to NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The Imo State Police Command initially confirmed the attack and said Commissioner of Police Audu Bosso had visited the area while officers and other security agencies began a search-and-rescue operation.
Channels Television reported the abduction on the day it occurred.
Police have since said two buses were recovered and that 10 people were rescued at the scene, while officers continued trying to determine precisely how many others were taken.
Families have disputed the description of those 10 as having been rescued, saying some passengers escaped by running into surrounding bush during the attack.
The police said the number of people still being held was being verified.
Oyo and Imo Authorities Coordinate Search
Oyo State officials say they are working with authorities in Imo and with security agencies in both states.
Dotun Oyelade, the Oyo State Commissioner for Information, said the state was applying lessons from its response to an earlier kidnapping in Oriire Local Government Area.
“We are in close contact at government-to-government level and actively working with the security apparatus in Oyo and Imo states,” Oyelade said.
He said some operational details would not be disclosed while efforts to secure the captives continued.
Olugbenga Abimbola, the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, has also said he is communicating with his counterpart in Imo.
“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,” Abimbola said.
Imo police spokesperson Henry Okoye said tactical teams and other operational resources had been deployed, alongside officers from other security agencies, to locate the abductors and free those being held.
He said intelligence-led tracking and searches were continuing.
Parents Appeal for Intervention
Relatives of the missing graduates have sought help from traditional and government authorities as the captivity continues.
A delegation of parents visited the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, at his residence in Bodija, where they appealed for intervention after receiving the original ₦50 million-per-person demand.
Ladoja told them that security agencies were working on the case and urged them not to lose hope.
“I want to assure you that your children will be rescued unharmed,” he said.
Some of the families have also complained about difficulties obtaining information from the transport company after the attack.
Parents told Vanguard that they sought passenger and next-of-kin information from the operator as they attempted to contact other affected households.
The company was not available to respond when Vanguard visited its premises.
Police have not announced any arrests in connection with the abduction and have not said publicly whether ransom negotiations are part of the security operation.
