Before they were freed, the victims alleged their relatives had paid N5 million in other stuff.
The abductors also gathered ten packs of cooked rice and chicken, N1m each, totaling N5m, three packs of Hollandia yoghurt, two loaves of bread, one carton of Peak milk, one pack of malt, bottles of Fearless drink, and one pack of cigarettes.
After completing a three-week National Youth Service Corps Orientation program in the states of Enugu and Abia, it was discovered that the corps members were going home.
The abductors shot and killed two people: the driver and a female passenger.
According to Patience Andrew, one of the victims, the kidnappers first sought N30 million from each of them but subsequently lowered their demands to N1 million.
They were beaten, she claimed, and forced to drink garri and tainted water once a day.
“We boarded a bus from Abia State to Onitsha, but our driver was not fast enough,” the woman claimed. We boarded a different bus to Akure, which departed Onitsha Park around 5:00 p.m., but the driver did not take off right away. Nine people boarded a Sienna bus, and we left the park at that time. One of the park drivers had driven us there.
“The event occurred at around 10 p.m. when we arrived in Ondo state. The driver said, “Oga, I don’t see you,” as they flashed the torch light on him.
“The woman seated next to him was slain when they shot him twice as soon as he made that comment. We don’t know about the guy who was massacred since he fled, but another guy was also killed, and two people perished.
“After that, they removed us from the car and led us into the bush, where we hiked until after 10 p.m. the next day. There were five kidnappers, and they were all roughly 25 years old. They had a single interpreter and were speaking Hausa/Fulani.
We were only provided water and garri once a day as they tormented us. They requested N30 million each person at first, but as the negotiations progressed, they lowered their demand to N3 million, at which point they asked us to contribute N1 million per.
“We spent the entire day sleeping inside the bush; when we came out, we passed through farmland and heard the sound of a cow and a dog barking. We didn’t see anyone on the road until our brothers arrived with what seemed like N1m.”
