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Posted By Admin On September 29th, 2025
The family of a newly called-to-the-bar lawyer, Peace Onyesom, and her sister, Gift Onyesom, who were kidnapped along the Okene-Auchi road on Friday, 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.
Recall that the Nigerian Law School held its call-to-the-bar ceremony on September 23. Peace, who was among the new graduates, participated in the ceremony and was returning to Benin alongside her sister when they were kidnapped.
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 noted 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.
However, the Nigerian Bar Association has urged the Federal Government to secure the safe release of Peace and her sister.
The NBA, in a statement on Sunday by its President, Afam Osigwe (SAN), expressed dissatisfaction with the abduction, describing it as “unacceptable and utterly condemnable.”
It stated, “The Nigerian Bar Association has received with shock and deep concern the distressing reports of the abduction of one of our young colleagues, Onyesom Peace Udoka, a newly called lawyer, alongside her sister, around the Lokoja–Okene axis in Kogi State while returning from the recent Call to Bar Ceremony in Abuja.
“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. No family should have to endure this trauma, and no citizen should live under the constant fear of insecurity on our roads.
“The NBA strongly calls on the Federal Government and all relevant security agencies particularly @PoliceNG to rise to the occasion, act with urgency, and ensure the immediate and safe release of our colleague and all others in captivity.”
He urged the government to prioritise the safety and security of all Nigerians while demanding actions to strengthen security on the highways.
Osigwe added, “We further demand intensified and sustained action to secure our highways and restore public confidence in the ability of government to guarantee the safety of all who travel across the country.
“The NBA stands in solidarity with the families of the abducted victims in this difficult time, and we pray that God grants the victims a safe and speedy return to their loved ones.”
This incident is not the first instance of kidnapping along the Abuja, Kogi, and Benin expressways.
In February, a member of the National Youth Service Corps serving in Ibadan, Oyo State, Rofiat Lawal, was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen along the Benin-Ore Expressway.
Her friend, who identified as Agbakwara, had raised the alarm about Lawal’s abduction, stressing that she was returning from Benin, Edo State, to report to her place of primary assignment in Oyo when she was abducted.
She was, however, released after her family paid a ransom of N1m.
Similarly, on September 9, the Kogi State Vigilante Services confirmed the abduction of three passengers of an 18-seater Toyota bus at Aku village along the Okene-Lokoja Expressway.
Source: https://punchng.com/abductors-of-new-lawyer-sister-demanded-n40m-ransom-family/
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