A family in Ibadan, Oyo State, has disclosed how it paid the equivalent of ₦6 million in dollars to kidnappers for the release of their son, one of the 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members abducted in Imo State.
The victim’s mother made the disclosure during an interview with News Central TV, revealing that the abductors initially demanded ₦50 million for each of the 20 victims before eventually reducing the ransom to ₦6 million per person.
She said the abductors first contacted the families and allowed the victims to speak with their relatives to confirm that they were alive.
“The terrorists first demanded N50 million. They gave the abductees phone to confirm that they were alive. We now asked if the money is for all of them, they said no. The money is for each of them,” she said.
According to the mother, the families initially offered ₦500,000, but the abductors rejected the offer and threatened to kill the victims.
“It was later they agreed for us to pay N6 million and that was what we paid. We paid N6 million,” she said.
She explained that the parents of the victims in Ibadan subsequently held a meeting and agreed on how to raise the ransom and transport it to Imo State.
“We called a meeting of the parents of the victims in Ibadan. And we agreed to pay the money into our account and convert it to dollars when taking it to Imo. And that was what we did,” she said.
The mother said the family later confirmed that the abducted prospective corps members had been released, adding that her son’s brother was part of the negotiating team that travelled to Imo State with relatives of other victims.
“It is true that they have released them. We saw the video. His brother was among the people who were in the negotiating team. His brother confirmed the ransom payment and he went there with the parents of other victims,” she said.
Describing the ordeal as traumatic, the woman said she had been unable to sleep properly since her son was abducted.
“I have not been myself since the abduction. I cannot sleep and I have been purging. I am not sad because of the money; I am sad because of my child. No money can’t buy a child,” she said.
The 20 graduates were abducted on October 1, 2026, while travelling from Ibadan to their respective NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The victims were travelling in two buses when gunmen reportedly intercepted the vehicles along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in the Umunoha area of Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State.
The abduction triggered panic among the victims’ families, particularly after the abductors reportedly demanded ₦50 million for each of the 20 prospective corps members, amounting to ₦1 billion in total, and gave the families a 24-hour ultimatum to raise the money.
The parents subsequently visited the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, in Ibadan, alongside the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Abimbola, and the Aseyin of Iseyinland, Oba Sefiu Adeyeri, seeking intervention.
The parents said they could not afford the ₦1 billion ransom being demanded and appealed for assistance to secure the release of their children.
As the victims remained in captivity, the abductors were later reported to have reduced their demand to about ₦5 million per victim.
Relatives also alleged that the captors were physically assaulting the victims, including female abductees, as pressure mounted on the families to pay the ransom.
The Imo State Police Command later disclosed that security operatives had located the suspected camp where the victims were being held through drone surveillance.
However, police said the rescue operation was delayed because intelligence indicated that the area had been planted with improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
The police said bulldozers, armoured personnel carriers and other operational assets were being deployed to facilitate access to the location and rescue the victims safely.
The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, also deployed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations, Shehu Nadada, to coordinate the search-and-rescue operation in Imo State.
After six days in captivity, the 20 prospective corps members regained their freedom on October 7, 2026.
The victims were subsequently taken to a medical facility in Owerri, where they received medical attention. The NYSC Director-General, Brigadier-General Olakunle Oluseye Nafiu, also visited the victims at the facility.
While authorities confirmed the release of the victims, they had not publicly disclosed details of the circumstances surrounding the operation or confirmed whether a ransom was paid.
The account by the victim’s mother therefore provides a separate account of how the families negotiated with the abductors and paid ₦6 million in dollars for the release of their loved ones.
The incident has again raised concerns over the security of young Nigerians travelling to their NYSC orientation camps and the growing financial and emotional burden placed on families of kidnapping victims during ransom negotiations.