The family of a newly called-to-bar lawyer, Peace Onyesom, and her sister, Gift Onyesom, who were abducted along the Okene–Auchi Road on Friday, says the kidnappers are demanding a ransom of N40m for their release.
The family, while appealing to the Federal Government to intervene, disclosed that the victims were returning to Benin after attending the September 23 call-to-bar ceremony in Abuja when they were seized.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with PUNCH Metro on Sunday, another sibling, Adaeze Onyesom, said Gift had been in contact with the family until her phone went off during the journey.
“About an hour later, someone picked up the call and claimed to be a policeman. He told us that Gift had been kidnapped and that they found her phone in the bus while chasing after the abductors,” Adaeze explained.
She added that the kidnappers first demanded N100m on Friday before reducing it to N20m per person.“When they contacted us, we pleaded with them, saying we could only raise N3m, but they refused. On Saturday, they reduced it to N20m for each person, making it N40m.
We begged them again, saying the family could only raise N7m, but they declined. They even allowed us to speak to our sisters, who pleaded that we should raise the money,” she said.Adaeze lamented that the family had been thrown into distress and had resorted to selling property to raise funds.
Meanwhile, the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said in a statement on Sunday that security operatives had rescued eight out of 12 persons abducted during the incident.He wrote on X, “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. Efforts are ongoing to rescue the remaining four.”
However, Adaeze countered the claim, insisting that the passenger manifest showed only eight people boarded the bus. She further alleged that a police source in Okene told the family no rescue had been carried out.
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has also waded into the matter. In a statement signed by its President, Afam Osigwe (SAN), the body condemned the abduction and urged the government to secure the safe release of the victims.
“The NBA has received with shock the distressing reports of the abduction of our young colleague, Onyesom Peace Udoka, and her sister along the Lokoja–Okene axis while returning from the call-to-bar ceremony. This is unacceptable and utterly condemnable,” Osigwe said.
He called on the Federal Government and security agencies to act with urgency to ensure their immediate release while demanding tighter security measures on the highways.“No family should have to endure this trauma, and no citizen should live under constant fear of insecurity on our roads,” he added.
This incident adds to a series of abductions recorded on major highways. In February, a corps member, Rofiat Lawal, was abducted along the Benin–Ore Expressway while returning to her place of primary assignment in Ibadan.
She was later released after her family reportedly paid N1m ransom.Similarly, on September 9, the Kogi State Vigilante Services confirmed the kidnap of three passengers from an 18-seater bus at Aku village along the Okene–Lokoja Expressway.
