Makinde urges FG to intensify anti-kidnapping efforts

Relatives of the 20 released National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members have voiced their grievances following the state operation, asserting that they were forced to pay multi-million naira ransom to the kidnappers prior to the release.

But Imo State Commissioner of Police (CP), Audu Bosso, denied knowledge of any ransom payment before the release of the 20 abducted corps members and one other who regained freedom from their abductors in the state.

This was as the Force Headquarters (FHQ) in Abuja confirmed the rescue of 20 prospective NYSC members abducted last week in Imo State.

Meanwhile, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has expressed relief over the release of prospective corps members of Oyo origin, while urging the Federal Government to intensify efforts to tackle kidnapping and banditry across the country.

The abducted corps members and another hostage were reportedly rescued by security agencies, including the military and the Department of State Services (DSS), on Wednesday. The corps members were abducted on October 1 after gunmen attacked two 18-seater buses travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, along the Owerri-Onitsha expressway.

A mother of one of the freed victims said she paid N6 million ransom to secure her son’s release. She said the kidnappers initially demanded N50 million for each victim before eventually accepting N6 million for her son.

“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.”

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

She narrated: “They called all the parents of all the victims. Twenty of them are in the bush. They then asked us to send three people each to meet with them in Ibadan. My husband and my son’s elder brother went.

“When they got to the meeting place, they asked them to send the money to an account and that when they got to Imo, they should change the money into dollars.”

However, Bosso, during an interview with Channels Television yesterday, said the kidnappers succumbed to pressure from security agencies who combed the forest during a rescue operation.

According to him, the released victims were receiving attention at the DSS office, Aleshinloye, in Ibadan South West Local Council of the state.

After the kidnapping, security agencies launched a coordinated search-and-rescue operation to locate the victims and their abductors.

The Imo State Police Command had earlier said its operatives located the kidnappers’ camp through drone surveillance but were unable to immediately enter the location because Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were planted on the roads.

The police were said to have deployed additional operational assets as efforts intensified to reach the victims.

The victims were, however, released from the Amakohia-Ubi forest in Owerri West Local Council on Wednesday.

Another relative of the victims also said they paid more than N3 million, while others paid up to N6 million.

“We had to converge somewhere in Ibadan to put the money together. Some of us even changed the money to dollars and sent it to Imo to meet whoever was coming to pick it.

Also, Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), CSP Anietie Iniedu, said operatives of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), in collaboration with other security agencies, successfully rescued the 20 NYSC corps members.

He said the victims were rescued about 4.28 p.m. on October 7, 2026, at Amakohia-Ubi Village, following sustained and coordinated search-and-rescue operations by the security agencies.

“Efforts are ongoing to apprehend the suspects responsible for the abduction, as the police and other security agencies continue to intensify operations towards bringing those responsible to justice,” he added.

Oyo State Commissioner for Information, Dotun Oyelade, yesterday, congratulated the Oyo and Imo governments as well as the Federal Government on the release of the abducted corps members.

Oyelade said the development brought relief to the state, describing the victims as “our children” who had been freed from the “bondage of abduction.”

He urged the Federal Government to be more proactive in addressing the country’s security challenges, stressing that it possessed the greatest capacity to effectively tackle kidnapping and banditry.

“The Federal Government, which has the preponderance of power and capacity to effectively nip this embarrassing development in the bud, must be more proactive and live up to its promise to keep citizens safer across the land,” he said.