Twenty prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members abducted by gunmen in Imo State have reportedly been subjected to physical assault, as their captors reduced the ransom demand to N5 million per victim.

The victims, including female graduates, were abducted on Thursday while travelling from Ibadan to their respective NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

A relative of one of the victims, Alhaja Alimot Akande, said the kidnappers had allegedly been beating the abductees since Saturday.

Akande, whose 25-year-old sister, Kehinde, is among the victims, described the situation as frightening and appealed to the government to intensify efforts to secure their release.

She disclosed that the abductors had reduced their initial demand of N50 million per victim to N5 million each.According to her, the kidnappers were not sparing any of the victims, including the female abductees.

She also alleged that one of the abducted corps members had been allowed to communicate with his father, with the kidnappers monitoring the calls to assess the family’s ability to pay the ransom.

Akande said the affected families were still struggling to raise the money, while the police had urged them to remain hopeful as efforts continued to rescue the victims.

Meanwhile, the Oyo State Government has disclosed that it is working with the Imo State Government and security agencies to secure the release of the abducted graduates.

The state Commissioner for Information, Prince Dotun Oyelade, said the government was leveraging its experience in handling the recent abduction of students and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area to support efforts in Imo State.

Oyelade explained that discussions were ongoing between the two state governments and their respective security agencies.The commissioner, however, said the government would not disclose every aspect of its strategy because of the sensitive nature of the rescue operation.