Families of 19 graduates abducted while travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camps have been thrown into panic following a reported ₦950 million ransom demand for their release.

The victims were reportedly travelling to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states when gunmen attacked their vehicles along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Umunoha, Imo State.

The Managing Director of Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nigeria Limited, Isiah Akpan, confirmed the incident in an interview with PUNCH, saying the abductors demanded ₦50 million for each of the 19 victims.

Akpan said the two buses conveying the prospective corps members departed Bodija/Samonda Park in Ibadan on Wednesday but were delayed by heavy traffic around Benin, Edo State.

According to him, the buses eventually reached Onitsha, Anambra State, late in the day. However, due to the condition of the road, the drivers decided to stop for the night in Oba.

He said the journey resumed at about 5am on Thursday and the buses had barely entered Imo State when gunmen emerged from the bush and intercepted them.

Akpan said the drivers managed to escape and alerted security personnel at a nearby checkpoint, prompting the police and military to commence a search for the abductors.

He, however, said the search operation was initially hampered when some villagers allegedly prevented security personnel from removing the abandoned buses from the scene.

According to him, the development delayed the movement of the security personnel as they attempted to track the abductors.

The two buses were subsequently left at the scene, with passengers’ belongings reportedly scattered inside the vehicles.

Akpan said, “They blocked the two vehicles and took 19 passengers, all corps members, into the bush.”

Meanwhile, a parent of one of the victims told PUNCH that the abductors contacted her through her son’s phone and demanded ₦50 million for his release.

She said, “The kidnappers called with my son’s phone this morning (Friday) and demanded N50m for his release. The N50m is for only my son.”

Similarly, another mother, identified as Mrs Oladosu, said her daughter, Greatness, who was travelling to Uyo, was among those abducted.

According to her, the abductors briefly contacted the family using her daughter’s phone, during which the family saw Greatness and other victims in a video call.

She said, “They used my daughter’s number to call us. We saw her and other corps members sitting on the ground in the bush, crying. Where will petty traders get N50m? They are just going to serve Nigeria; why this punishment?”