- Force PRO Hundeyin claims eight of 12 abducted persons had been freed
- Family of kidnaped lawyer says only 8 names on bus manifest and nobody rescued
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has called on the federal government and security agencies to act swiftly to secure the release of one of its members, Onyesom Peace Udoka, who was abducted alongside her sister and others along the Okene-Auchi road in Kogi state on Friday.
Udoka, who was recently called to the Bar, was kidnapped while returning from the Call to Bar ceremony in Abuja.
In the meantime, her family has disclosed that the abductors are demanding N40m ransom before they would be released. This is just as the family appealed to the Federal Government to ensure the safe rescue of the victims.
In a statement on Sunday, NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, condemned the incident as “unacceptable and utterly condemnable,” stressing that no family should be forced to endure such trauma.
“It is heartbreaking that at a time when our nation should be celebrating the future of the legal profession, young lawyers and their families are subjected to such harrowing ordeals,” Osigwe said.
The NBA called on the government to ensure the immediate and safe release of Udoka, her sister, and other victims still in captivity. It also demanded a more coordinated effort to address the growing insecurity on Nigeria’s highways.
“The safety and security of Nigerians cannot continue to be treated with levity. It is the primary duty of government to protect the lives of its citizens, and this duty must be discharged with the seriousness it deserves,” the association stressed.
Expressing solidarity with the families of the abducted victims, the NBA said it remained hopeful for their safe return and reaffirmed its commitment to supporting measures that will enhance the security of Nigerians.
Speaking on behalf of the family in an exclusive interview with PUNCH Metro on Sunday, the victims’ sister, Adaeze Onyesom, said that Gift had been in contact with another sibling until she became incommunicado during the journey.
She narrated that after a while, one of her siblings, Gift, and the call was picked up by a man who identified as a police officer and informed them that she had been kidnapped.
Adaeze said, “About an hour after our youngest sibling called her, someone else picked up the call and said he was a policeman and that she had been kidnapped.
“The policeman said that they found her phone in the bus and that they had gone after the kidnappers.”
She further stated that the kidnappers reached out to the family on Friday, demanding a sum of N100m, which they pleaded to be reduced.
Adaeze said, “When they (the kidnappers) contacted us on Friday evening, they told us that we should bring N100m, but we told them we could not get such an amount, and we pleaded with them. On Saturday, they called back and reduced it to N20m, but we told them we could only raise N3m, but they declined.
“After a while, they called us back to say that they were not collecting anything less than N20m for each person, which is N40m for the two of them. We appealed that it was only N7m that we could raise, but they did not agree.
“They called us this morning (Sunday) and allowed us to speak with our sisters who were pleading that we should raise money.”
Ada lamented that the situation had caused distress to the family and that they had resorted to selling property to raise the ransom.
She appealed to the authorities to ensure the safe rescue of their sisters.
Meanwhile, the Force Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, in a post on his X page on Sunday, disclosed that eight of the abducted persons had been rescued.
Hundeyin tweeted, “Of the 12 persons kidnapped on Friday, September 26, 2025, along the Okene-Auchi Road, eight have been rescued by the police in conjunction with the military.
“Concerted efforts are in top gear to ensure the safe rescue of the remaining four victims.”
In a follow-up conversation with Adaeze, she disclosed that a manifest of the passengers only showed that eight people boarded the bus, contrary to the claim that 12 people were in the bus.
A copy of the manifest obtained by our correspondent showed that eight people signed their details on the list.
She also noted that a police source in Okene whom they had been in contact with disclosed that nobody had been rescued by the police.
