Abductors who seized 19 graduates travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, for their National Youth Service Corps orientation camps have demanded N950m for their release.
The victims were travelling in two buses when gunmen attacked them along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Umunoha, Imo State, on Thursday.
The Managing Director of Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nigeria Limited, Isiah Akpan, who confirmed the incident to Saturday PUNCH on Friday, said the gunmen demanded N50m for each of the victims.
He noted that occupants of the vehicles, owned by his company, were corps members heading to Abia and Akwa Ibom orientation camps.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that the abductors contacted some of the victims’ families and demanded N50m for each person.
The demand heightened anxiety among families as security operatives continued efforts to locate the missing passengers.
Recounting how the incident happened, Akpan said the two buses left Bodija/Samonda Park in Ibadan on Wednesday but were delayed by traffic around Benin, Edo State.
According to him, the vehicles eventually reached Onitsha, Anambra State, late in the day.
He explained that they could not continue the journey because of the condition of the road, forcing the drivers and passengers to spend the night in Oba.
Akpan said the buses resumed their journey around 5 am on Thursday.
He said they had barely entered Imo State when gunmen emerged from the bush.
“They blocked the two vehicles and took 19 passengers, all corps members, into the bush,” he added.
Akpan noted that the drivers managed to escape and alerted security personnel at a nearby checkpoint, prompting the police and military to begin searching the area.
He, however, said the search operation was initially complicated when some villagers allegedly prevented security personnel from removing the abandoned buses from the scene.
