Kidnappers holding 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps members abducted along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Imo State have reduced their ransom demand from N50m to N5m per victim, bringing the total demand down from N1bn to N100m.
The victims’ parents said the abducted graduates were being beaten by their captors and appealed to the government to urgently secure their release. The prospective corps members were travelling from Ibadan to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states when gunmen attacked their buses around Umunoha in Imo State.
Security agencies said efforts were ongoing to rescue the victims. The Imo State Police Command said operatives were closing in on the abductors, while the 34 Artillery Brigade said security agencies were working together to secure their release.
The Imo State Commissioner of Police, Audu Bosso, said security operatives had identified the location where the victims were being held using drones but delayed entering the area because intelligence indicated that the suspected camp had been planted with improvised explosive devices.
The African Democratic Congress has meanwhile called for the temporary suspension of the NYSC scheme to allow the government to reorganise it and strengthen measures to protect corps members.
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