The abductors of 19 graduates heading from Ibadan, Oyo State for their National Youth Service Corps orientation camps have demanded N950 million for their release, it was revealed.
The victims were on board two buses when gunmen assaulted them along Owerri-Onitsha Road in Umunoha, Imo State on Thursday, Saturday PUNCH report.
Isiah Akpan, Managing Director, Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nigeria Limited, who verified the event to our correspondent yesterday, said the gunmen wanted N50m for each of the victims.
He said the occupants of the vehicles belonged to his company and were Corps members going to the orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom.
Some of the victims’ relatives were approached by the abductors who demanded N50m for each person.
The rising demand has heightened worry among families as security personnel continue their efforts to find the missing travellers.
The two buses left Bodija/Samonda Park in Ibadan on Wednesday but encountered a traffic snarl in Benin, in Edo State, which delayed their arrival, Akpan added.
The vehicles finally arrived in Onitsha, Anambra State, late in the day, he said.
He said the state of the road did not allow them to continue the trip and thus the drivers and passengers had to spend the nite in Oba.
“The buses continued their journey around 5 a.m. on Thursday,” Akpan said.
They had only entered Imo State when gunmen came out of the bush, he said.
“They took the two vehicles and took 19 passengers, all members of the Corps, into the bush,” he claimed.
The drivers escaped and informed security authorities at a nearby checkpoint and the police and military were combing the area, Akpan said.
He, however, said the search operation was hindered at the beginning due to alleged obstruction by some of the people to the security officers to remove the abandoned buses from the scene.
“The intervention slowed down the movement of the security personnel when they wanted to pursue the abductors,” he said.
The two buses were abandoned at the spot, their passengers’ possessions strewn about both vehicles.
The Imo State Police Command reported Thursday nite that 10 people were rescued.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Henry Okoye, in a statement made available to our reporter revealed that security services were on the trail of the abductors and had initiated a concerted search for the remaining victims.
However Okoye could not determine if the rescued victims were among the abducted Corps members.
Parents were in a frenzy
One of the parents of the victims, who did not want his name in print for security reasons, told our correspondent that the abductors contacted her through her son’s phone and demanded N50m for his release.
“The kidnappers called this morning (Friday) with my son’s phone and asked for N50m for his release. “The N50m is just for my son,” she claimed.
Another mother, Mrs Oladosu, whose daughter, Greatness, was going to Uyo, said the abductors contacted the family briefly through her daughter’s phone.
She stated the family was able to view Greatness and other victims on a video call.
“They rang us on my daughter’s number. We spotted her and others in the corps sitting on the ground in the forest crying. Where will the petty shopkeepers get N50m? What is this punishment, they will only serve Nigeria?” “Oladosu lamented. Shop African Arts
In a viral video yesterday, Mrs Alimotu Akanke, mother of another victim, Akande Farouq, said she was following her son’s travels when the distress call came in.
Before his telephone line went dead, Farouq, who was posted to Abia State, managed to send a one-word message to his family WhatsApp group, “Kidnappers!” his mother said.
The manifest of the two vehicles involved in the attack showed that the number of passengers was 30, 15 in each bus. Two more vehicles belonging to the same firm on their way to Abia State, evaded the attack.
Akande Kehinde, Olaleye Mary, Oladosu Greatness, Obafunsho Rhoda, Abdulrof Anifat, Esther Oyede, Hassan Usman, Ayomide Isa, Mary Makinde, Azeez Adejoke and Abdulrazaq Anifat were on the manifest.
Social media campaigns launched by friends for victims
Some alleged friends of the abducted potential NYSC members have moved to social media to appeal for support in their rescue.
One of the fatalities has been identified as Precious Oladipupo, a graduate of the Obafemi Awolowo University.
One Adebayo (@Adebayoakim1) on X called the public’s help for the safe return of Wahab Ayandare, who he said was also taken in the same incident.
Another friend, Akinlabi Abayomi (@Mubiiiiin) called for help for another claimed victim, Oyindamola Adeoye.
The abductors demanded N50million for her release, Abayomi added.
Oyo govt condemns kidnapping
Meanwhile, the Oyo State government has condemned the occurrence, describing the abduction as upsetting and reprehensible.
The government’s position was made known in a statement issued in Ibadan on Friday by the Commissioner for Information, Dotun Oyelade.
He said the government was in close contact with the relevant security agencies, the Imo State administration and the NYSC leadership to ensure an urgent and coordinated reaction.
Oyelade said Governor Seyi Makinde had ordered that all necessary resources should be deployed to ensure the safe return of the victims. Access Services
The commissioner quoted the governor as stressing that the safety and security of every indigene of Oyo State at home and abroad was of paramount importance.
“We are fully committed to getting our children back home safely and will not rest until our children are returned to their families unharmed,” the statement stated.
The administration appealed to families of the victims to be calm, saying efforts were underway to obtain the victims’ release.
It also urged security services to step up efforts to rescue the victims and arrest the offenders.
Car theft: NYSC members kidnaped
The attack in Imo comes 36 days after 15 potential corps members were kidnaped on Aloma-Egane Motorway in Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State.
The gunmen attacked the victims on August 26 as they travelled from Bayelsa State to the nation’s capital, Abuja. PlanRoutes
The abducted Corps members and other victims were later recovered by security operatives from Egume Forest in Ofu LGA.
Maitama, Abuja. In May, Eunice Ameh, a lawyer and corps member living in Abuja, was kidnaped in Maitama, Abuja, but later released following a claimed payment of a ransom.
Similarly, in January, bandits seized corps member Musa Abba while on his way to Sokoto to serve his country, a worrying sign for the safety of young graduates across the country.
Lateefah Binuyo was released after spending 10 days in captivity, having been kidnaped in Kogi State on her way to an orientation camp in Taraba State in January 2026.
Meanwhile, the abduction of the corps member has caused the Lagos State House of Assembly to urge for increased security measures on main routes utilised by corps members.
Police in February 2023 rescued 15 abducted corps members in Anambra State and in 2022, a corps member was murdered during a gun duel between robbers and security officers along the Kaduna-Abuja Motorway.
The resurgence of attacks on prospective corps members across states has therefore heightened fears among parents and graduates over the safety of interstate movements and the security of participants in the NYSC scheme.
A 2023 report of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism said in the period, at least 80 corp members were abducted. Rivers State accounted for half of the abduction incidents of corp members between 2013 and 2023.
Similarly, this report found over 20 corps members were slain in different incidents from 2015 to 2026.
The instances have left families of missing corps members asking questions.
Experts want NYSC deployment policy reviewed
A security analyst, Chidi Omeje, said criminal networks could be taking advantage of the predictable movement of young graduates during NYSC recruitment and deployment periods.
‘I think this is becoming a pattern, because anyone has information regarding mobilisation of corps members, criminals may use that to plot coordinated attacks.
He said, “The federal government and the NYSC must beef up security arrangements for corps members travelling through identified kidnapping corridors.”
Security expert Olalekan Jackson-Ojo said that the failure to ensure the safety of corps members across the country posed a threat to the NYSC’s goal of national integration, adding that specific security measures might not be enough to address the threats in dangerous areas.
He also urged corps members be permitted to serve in their own states or regions, instead of being sent to high risk areas.
Jackson-Ojo said that failure to evaluate the deployment strategy to reflect current security realities might dissuade graduates from participating in the scheme, and ultimately risk its sustainability.
An educationist, Dele Olapeju, said the incidence of kidnappings of corps members was contributing to the dwindling public confidence in the NYSC as concerned parents asked for their redeployment for their children.
He said the rising insecurity had altered the public impression of the program and emphasised the need for better security and protection measures.
Olapeju advised the government to prioritise the welfare of corps members and not to dismantle a plan that was set up to foster national integration.
When approached, Caroline Embu, the Director of Public Relations, NYSC, had yet to react to questions on the latest incidence as of press time.
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