The mother of one of the 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps members abducted in Imo State, Alirat Wahab, has revealed how her family borrowed money and received contributions from relatives, friends and other individuals to raise N6m allegedly demanded for her son’s release.
Wahab said the kidnappers initially demanded N50m for each victim before reducing the amount following pleas from the parents.
She disclosed this in separate interviews with News Central on Wednesday and Thursday, following the release of the 20 prospective corps members.
According to her, the abductors initially demanded N50m for each victim but later agreed to reduce the amount after the families pleaded with them.
She said, “They first said N50m per child. We pleaded because each child was given the phone for about two minutes, and then they would seize the phone back. They said N50m, are we fighting a war with them? In their main war, it’s for each victim.”
Wahab said the kidnappers initially agreed to accept N5m but later increased the demand to N15m before eventually settling for N6m.
“As we kept pleading, they initially agreed to N5m, but later refused. They started… we became scared. Later on, around three days ago, they said they would collect N15m from us. We started pleading again, saying we only had N5.5m at the time, but they insisted on N6m,” she said.
The mother said the families were later summoned to Ibadan, Oyo State, where they were instructed to send representatives to Imo State with the ransom.
She said they were informed that about 20 victims were being held and that three representatives should be sent for each victim.
“When they called us that all the parents of the children in the bush… they said about 20 children were in the bush. They told us to meet them in Ibadan, and three representatives for each child should go,” she said.
Wahab said her husband and the victim’s elder brother were among those who travelled to Imo State.
She added that the representatives were instructed not to transfer the ransom into an account but to take the money to Imo State and convert it to dollars.
“When they went, their daddy went, his brother went. When they got there, they discussed that we should not send the money through an account. By the time they got to Imo State, they should go and convert it to dollars. When they arrived, they converted it to dollars,” she said.
Explaining how the family raised the N6m, Wahab said relatives, friends and other individuals contributed varying amounts, while the family borrowed money to make up the balance.
“It was other people that helped us so our money could complete. We borrowed money, and others helped us. Some gave N20,000, some N50,000, some gave what they had. We went to borrow more money, and that was how the total money was completed to N6m,” she said.
She added that some of the contributions were paid into her sister’s account.
“They were sending it to their account, my sister’s account. They were helping with N20,000, N50,000, N5,000. That was how we collected it,” she added.
Wahab’s husband, who also spoke during the interview, said the parents of the abducted prospective corps members pooled their resources to meet the kidnappers’ demands.
He said his family contributed N6m, while some other parents contributed N5m.
“The parents gathered that money together. For us parents, our portion was N6m, while others paid N5m. Our money was more than the others, which we gathered together,” he said.
The father added that the parents met at Adamasingba in Ibadan to coordinate the ransom payment.
He said the parents also contributed N100,000 each to cover the expenses of representatives who travelled to Imo State.
The family’s account contradicts the position of the Imo State Government, which had said no ransom was paid for the release of the victims.
Reacting to the government’s claim, the father said, “They lied! We the parents gathered that money together.”
Wahab said the family learnt of her son’s release after his elder brother, who had travelled to Imo State, contacted them.
According to her, the family was informed that the victims had been handed over after the ransom was delivered.
She said, “His elder brother was there then. Those who went with us… those who left home. They carried the ransom along. It was his elder brother who called us that morning that they had handed the children over to those who delivered the money to them.”
She added that the other parents subsequently travelled to Imo State after the release was confirmed.
The police had on Wednesday confirmed the rescue of the 20 prospective corps members, who were abducted while travelling to their NYSC orientation camp.
The victims were reportedly among graduates travelling from Ibadan to their orientation camp in Abia State when they were abducted along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Imo State.
The police said the victims were rescued at Amakohia Ubi Village in Imo State following sustained search-and-rescue operations.
The Force said the victims were subsequently taken for medical assessment and necessary care, while efforts were ongoing to arrest the perpetrators.
The Imo State Government maintained that the victims were released without any ransom being paid.