Abductors holding 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members kidnapped along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Imo State have reduced their ransom demand from ₦50 million to ₦5 million per victim, lowering the cumulative figure from ₦1 billion to ₦100 million.
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The reduction comes as distressed parents revealed that their children are undergoing physical assault in captivity, escalating fears over their safety and spurring urgent calls for security intervention.
Speaking through her daughter in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Sunday, one of the affected parents, Alhaja Alimot Akande, stated that the captors have repeatedly beaten the victims since Friday.
The prospective corps members were traveling from Ibadan to their designated NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states on Thursday when armed gunmen ambushed the two buses conveying them near Umunoha along the Owerri-Onitsha expressway.
Family members of the victims continue to appeal to law enforcement agencies and the federal government to secure the safe release of the abducted graduates.
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