Families Paid N6m Per Head to Free NYSC-Bound Graduates After Kidnappers Slashed N50m Demand

Families of 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps members freed by suspected kidnappers say they paid N6m for each graduate, a fraction of the N50m per head the abductors first demanded, as survivors began recounting days of forced marches, monitored phone calls and a ransom haggle conducted on loudspeaker.

A parent of one of the freed graduates said the families agreed to the sum only after protracted bargaining, and chose to say nothing publicly until their children were safe. "As for the ransom, we eventually paid N6m each, but we wanted them freed before disclosing that," she said.

The parent said the graduates, who were released on Wednesday, have since been offered postings to any of the six South-West states and allowed to choose where to complete their service. "They have been given the opportunity to choose states in the South-West to continue their service with the current batch," she said.

Alirat Wahab, whose child was among the victims, said the kidnappers initially demanded N50m for every captive and refused to treat the figure as a collective sum. The demand fell first to N15m before the abductors finally accepted N6m after repeated appeals from her family, she told News Central Television.

"Initially, they asked us to pay N50m per head. We asked whether the amount was for all of them, but they insisted it was per person, so we started begging them to take N500,000, but they refused," Wahab said.

She said relatives and well-meaning Nigerians contributed to raise the money. According to Wahab, the kidnappers instructed the families to send representatives to Ibadan, Oyo State, where her husband and son met an intermediary. The funds were transferred into a designated account, she said, and the representatives were then told to convert the money into US dollars on arrival in Imo State.

One of the abducted travellers, Ibi Philip, said he and 11 others were seized on September 30, 2026, when the Benue Links Nig. Ltd. bus carrying them to the NYSC orientation camp in Akure, Ondo State, was ambushed at Ibilo in Edo State. The driver and two other passengers escaped, he said, while the remaining 12 occupants were taken captive and marched towards Okene in Kogi State.

Philip said the group was held in a forest for more than a week. The captives trekked through the savannah for days, slept on bare ground and rocks, endured heavy rain and survived on very little food, he said.

Negotiations began on Friday, October 2, when the kidnappers allowed the captives to contact their families, according to Philip. He said he telephoned his father, Chief Sunday Ibi, and his former course representative at Benue State University, Makurdi, Ols Sally Sewuese Ukule, to alert them to his situation.

"I told them the kidnappers were demanding ₦50 million as ransom. The amount was later reduced to ₦30 million, but that was where the negotiations ended that night," he said.

The demand subsequently fell to N20m and then N10m, Philip said, while his father, relatives, friends and other well-wishers set about raising the money. "My father did everything he could. He barely rested as he desperately tried to find a way to bring me home safely," he said.

Philip said every call with relatives was placed on loudspeaker so that the kidnappers could monitor the conversation. "We were only allowed to speak English. We were asked how much our people had been able to raise," he said.

He said the abductors became visibly angry when his father disclosed that he had managed to raise only N500,000.