The mother of one of the prospective members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) freed from the custody of kidnappers has claimed that she paid N6 million ransom to secure her son’s release.

The woman, who spoke with journalists after the release of the victims, said the kidnappers initially demanded N50 million for each of the abducted prospective corps members before eventually agreeing to accept N6 million for her son.

The prospective corps members were abducted on October 1 after gunmen reportedly attacked two 18-seater buses conveying them from Ibadan, Oyo State, along the Owerri-Onitsha Expressway.

According to the woman, the kidnappers initially demanded N50 million for each victim, a demand she said the families found difficult to meet.

“Initially, they asked us to pay N50 million per head. We asked whether the amount was for all of them, but they insisted that no, it was for each person. Later, we started begging them to take N500,000. But they said no and started scaring us,” she said in Yoruba.

She said the kidnappers later reduced the ransom demand to N15 million but eventually settled for N6 million after negotiations with the family.

“Three days ago, they called and said we should pay N15 million. We kept begging them that all we had was N5.5 million. They said no and insisted on N6 million. So, it’s that N6 million we paid,” she said.

The mother said the abductors subsequently directed the parents of the victims to send representatives to meet them in Ibadan as part of arrangements for payment of the ransom.

She said 20 of the victims were still being held in the bush at the time, adding that the kidnappers instructed the families to send three representatives each to meet them.

“Twenty of them are in the bush. They then asked us to send three persons each to meet with them in Ibadan. My husband and my son’s elder brother went,” she said.

According to her, the representatives were instructed to transfer the ransom to an account and later convert the money to dollars when they arrived in Imo State.

She said her elder son was among those who met the kidnappers and delivered the ransom.

The woman said the release of the victims was confirmed after her son’s brother contacted the family to inform them that the ransom had been delivered and the boy released.

“It is not rumours. They have all been released and sent to us. His brother is among the people who went to meet with the abductors three days ago. They left with the ransom,” she said.

“It was the brother who called us this evening to say that they had handed the ransom to the kidnappers and that they had released our son. We also spoke to the boy.”

Recounting her experience during the period her son was in captivity, the mother said the incident left her traumatised and unable to sleep.

“Since he was kidnapped, I have been stooling. I couldn’t sleep either. But I was relieved when I heard they had been released. It was as though the chains all over me were loosened,” she said.

The development followed the earlier confirmation of the release of the abducted prospective corps members, who had been held after the attack on their vehicles while travelling to Imo State.