A mother of one of the 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps members abducted in Imo State has disclosed how her family raised N6m in ransom through borrowing and contributions from relatives, friends and other individuals to secure her son’s release.
The account directly contradicts the Imo State Government’s claim that no ransom was paid for the release of the victims.
The mother, Alirat Wahab, said the kidnappers initially demanded N50m for each victim, but reduced the amount following prolonged negotiations with the parents.
Wahab, who spoke in separate interviews with News Central on Wednesday and Thursday, said the abductors first agreed to collect N5m from her family but later raised the demand to N15m before finally settling for N6m.
She said the family had only raised about N5.5m at one point and had to seek further assistance to meet the kidnappers’ demand.
“As we kept pleading, they initially agreed to N5m, but later refused. They started… we became scared. Later on, around three days ago, they said they would collect N15m from us. We started pleading again, saying we only had N5.5m at the time, but they insisted on N6m,” she said.
According to Wahab, the families were summoned to Ibadan, Oyo State, where they were instructed to nominate representatives who would travel to Imo State with the ransom.
She said her husband and the victim’s elder brother were among those who travelled.
The representatives were allegedly instructed not to transfer the money into an account but to take it to Imo State and convert it to dollars before handing it over.
Wahab said the N6m was eventually raised from several sources.
“It was other people that helped us so our money could complete. We borrowed money, and others helped us. Some gave N20,000, some N50,000, some gave what they had. We went to borrow more money, and that was how the total money was completed to N6m,” she said.
She added that some of the contributions were sent to an account belonging to her sister.
“They were sending it to their account, my sister’s account. They were helping with N20,000, N50,000, N5,000. That was how we collected it,” she said.
Her husband, who also spoke in the interview, said the parents of the abducted prospective corps members pooled money to meet the kidnappers’ demands.
“For us parents, our portion was N6m, while others paid N5m. Our money was more than the others, which we gathered together,” he said.
He said the parents met at Adamasingba in Ibadan to coordinate the payment and also contributed additional money to cover the expenses of representatives travelling to Imo State, with each person contributing N100,000.
Reacting to the Imo State Government’s denial that ransom was paid, the father said, “They lied! We the parents gathered that money together.
The family said they learnt of the victims’ release after the elder brother, who had travelled to Imo State, contacted them.
Wahab said the family was informed that the victims had been handed over after the ransom was delivered.
“His elder brother was there then. Those who went with us… those who left home. They carried the ransom along. It was his elder brother who called us that morning that they had handed the children over to those who delivered the money to them,” she said.
The other parents subsequently travelled to Imo State after the release was confirmed.
The 20 prospective corps members were abducted while travelling from Ibadan to their NYSC orientation camp in Abia State, reportedly along the Owerri-Onitsha road in Imo State.
The Nigeria Police Force announced their rescue on Wednesday, saying they were found at Amakohia Ubi Village, Imo State, following sustained search-and-rescue operations.
The victims were subsequently taken for medical assessment and necessary care, while the police said efforts were continuing to apprehend the perpetrators.
The ransom account has, however, exposed a sharp contradiction between the victims’ families and the Imo State Government over what transpired before their release.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that the kidnappers initially demanded N50m for each victim before reducing the demand to N100m for all 20 victims following pressure and negotiations with their families.
The Imo State Government has maintained that the victims were released without any ransom being paid.The conflicting accounts are likely to intensify questions over the circumstances surrounding the release of the victims and the government’s handling of ransom negotiations in kidnapping cases.
