Kidnappers of NYSC members demand N100m ransom

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Kidnappers of NYSC members demand N100m ransom
NAN
June 10, 2011


The kidnappers of five members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) serving in Rivers State have demanded a ransom of N100 million from the victims’ families, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

NAN learnt that the corps members, a female and four males, were kidnapped on Wednesday at Odomanya Community in Ikwerre local government area of the state.

They were on their way to inspect a school library project they constructed as their Community Development Service (CDS).

Mr Ben Esan, the public relations officer of the NYSC, told NAN on Thursday in Port Harcourt that the abductors had already contacted the parents of the victims asking for the said amount.

He said that the kidnappers equally spoke with the NYSC liaison officer in Ikwerre and made a similar demand, adding that the names of the abducted corps members were yet to be made public, but that they were members of 2011 batch ‘A’ and ‘B’.

It will be recalled that a similar incident occurred in Omuma local government area, also in the state, during the INEC voter registration that took place in January.

Mr Esan, who described the act as evil, said that the NYSC investigation team had been sent to the area to ascertain the circumstance surrounding the incident.

He, however, called on the state government, security agencies, and members of the community to quickly intervene in order to free the victims and arrest the perpetrators.

Rescue mission

Meanwhile, a combined team of security agencies made up of the police and the army on Thursday started searching for the abducted corps members.

The Rivers State commissioner of police, Mr Suleiman Abba, told NAN in Port Harcourt that the police, the State Security Service (SSS), and the army had started searching for the missing corps members.

“We (the security team) worked all through last night and we will continue the search until we rescue them. All hands are on deck and all efforts are on to rescue the corps members and arrest the culprits,” he said.

Mr Abba urged the people to give the police useful information that would lead to the rescue of the corps members and arrest of the criminals.

“All our personnel are out on the field searching for the corps members and nothing must happen to them,” he added.