The family of Senior Adviser to the President on Research, Documentation and Strategy, Mr. Oronto Douglas, has intensified negotiations with kidnappers of their sister, Augusta Douglas-Ayam.

Sources close to the family told PUNCH Metro that Augusta’s husband, Mr. Azibayam Apaga, had pleaded with the kidnappers to reduce the N10m ransom placed on his wife to N3m.

Augusta was last Monday, seized and whisked away to an unknown destination in the creeks by nine gunmen who were dressed in military fatigues.

The kidnappers, after keeping mum for about four days, eventually contacted Douglas-Ayam’s family on Thursday and demanded for N500m.

After failing to reach the Presidential adviser, the bandits reportedly slashed their initial demand of N500m ransom to N17m on Friday.

However, fresh facts emerged on Saturday that the kidnappers had reduced their ransom from N17m to N10m. It was gathered that the kidnappers came down to the N10m on Saturday morning while negotiating with Apaga.

Still, Apaga, who allegedly told the kidnappers that he was a poor teacher, was said to have insisted that the family could only afford N3m.

A family source, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the kidnappers were calmer and gentler in their conversation with Apaga.

He said, “For the first time, the kidnappers calmed down in their conversation. They didn’t sound furious this time around. They simply asked that we should look for N10m.

“But Apaga begged them to collect N3m. He told them he could only afford N3m. They asked him to increase the money to enable them to free his wife.”

“With the way the conversation is going, we hope that our sister will be released on or before Monday.”

-Punch