By Samuel Olusegun Precious
Conflicting accounts have emerged surrounding the release of 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members abducted in Imo State, with families insisting they paid over ₦120 million in ransom—contradicting official police claims of a successful tactical rescue.
The corps members were ambushed on October 1, 2026, at Ogbaku in Mbaitoli Local Government Area along the Owerri-Onitsha Road while traveling in two commercial buses from Ibadan, Oyo State, to their assigned orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The Imo State Police Command stated that a joint security operation successfully rescued the victims on October 7 at Amakohia Ubi village after surveillance drones located the kidnappers’ hideout.
Speaking on the operation, Imo State Commissioner of Police, Audu Garba Bosso, maintained that no ransom payment was communicated to the command. “To my knowledge, no. I am not aware whether a ransom was paid, but we did what we were supposed to do as professionals, and that’s how we got them,” Bosso stated.
However, parents of the victims offered a starkly different narrative in broadcast interviews, alleging that families were forced to pool funds following intense negotiations with the captors.
One mother, Alirat Wahab, revealed that the kidnappers initially demanded a total ransom of ₦1 billion—amounting to ₦50 million per victim—before eventually reducing the demand after negotiations.
“I paid as much as ₦3 million as ransom while I was hoping that nothing happened to my child. I ran helter-skelter to raise the money,” another parent recounted, adding that individual family contributions ranged between ₦3 million and ₦6 million.
According to the parents, representatives gathered in Ibadan to pool the funds, converted the sum into foreign currency, and traveled to Imo State to make the physical drop. Total ransom paid across the group is estimated at ₦120 million.
Families also disputed early police reports claiming ten corps members were initially rescued, clarifying that those ten individuals managed to escape into nearby bushes during the ambush while 20 others were taken into captivity.
As of Wednesday, the freed prospective corps members had arrived in Ibadan and were taken to the Department of State Services (DSS) facility at Aleshinloye for medical evaluation and debriefing prior to their formal handover to the Director-General of the NYSC.
