Mother of freed corps member says family raised N6m ransom, contradicting Imo govt

The mother of one of 20 prospective corps members abducted in Imo State has said her family borrowed money and sought contributions from relatives to raise N6m for her son’s release, Punch reported.

Alirat Wahab told News Central that the kidnappers first demanded N50m per victim before the figure was reduced after parents pleaded.

“As we kept pleading, they initially agreed to N5m, but later refused. They started… we became scared. Later on, around three days ago, they said they would collect N15m from us. We started pleading again, saying we only had N5.5m at the time, but they insisted on N6m,” she said.

She said relatives, friends and others gave what they could. “We borrowed money, and others helped us. Some gave N20,000, some N50,000, some gave what they had,” she said.

Her husband said the other parents paid N5m each, adding that the families pooled resources at Adamasingba in Ibadan.

The account contradicts the Imo State Government’s claim that no ransom was paid. “They lied! We the parents gathered that money together,” the father said.

Police confirmed on Wednesday that the 20 victims were rescued at Amakohia Ubi Village.