NYSC Abduction: Kidnappers Drop Ransom Demand to N100m

NYSC abductees’ kidnappers have reduced their ransom demand to N100 million as parents raise concerns over reports that the victims are being beaten.

byOluwatoyin Ololade

October 5, 2026

NYSC Abduction: Kidnappers Drop Ransom Demand to N100m

Parents seek urgent government intervention as abducted prospective corps members face alleged assault Credit: officialnyscng

The kidnappers who abducted prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Imo State have reduced their ransom.

The kidnappers initially demanded N50 million from each victim’s family, but they have now reduced the amount to N5 million per victim. With 20 prospective corps members in captivity, the new demand brings the total ransom from N1 billion to N100 million.

Parents Raise Concerns Over Victims’ Safety

The development came as the parents of the victims revealed that the kidnappers had been beating the abducted graduates. This has raised concerns about their safety and prompting fresh calls for immediate government action.

On Thursday, October 1, gunmen attacked two buses carrying the prospective corps members along Umunoha on the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Imo State. The corps members were travelling from Ibadan to their assigned NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

Parent Reveals Victims Are Being Beaten

On Sunday, one of the victims’ parents, Alhaja Alimot Akande, spoke through one of her daughters in Ibadan, Oyo State. She said the abductors had physically assaulted the victims since Friday.

Akande noted that the reduction in the ransom had not relieved the families’ concerns. This is because the victims remained in captivity and the kidnappers allegedly continued to brutalise them.

Akande said she could not confirm how much the families had raised towards the ransom because she was not involved in the arrangements between the kidnappers and the other parents. She described the situation as horrible, scary and overwhelming.

Akande added that the situation became more disturbing after she learnt that the abductors had started beating the victims.

The parents and Nigerians are appealing to the government at all levels to assist in rescuing the victims from captivity because the kidnappers have allegedly assaulted them.