Abductors who seized 19 graduates travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, for their National Youth Service Corps orientation camps have demanded N950m for their release, it has been learnt.

The victims were travelling in two buses when gunmen attacked them along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Umunoha, Imo State, on Thursday.

The Managing Director of Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nigeria Limited, Isiah Akpan, who confirmed the incident to Saturday PUNCH on Friday, said the gunmen demanded N50m for each of the victims.

He noted that occupants of the vehicles, owned by his company, were corps members heading to Abia and Akwa Ibom orientation camps.

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It was gathered that the abductors contacted some of the victims’ families and demanded N50m for each person.

The demand heightened anxiety among families as security operatives continued efforts to locate the missing passengers.

Recounting how the incident happened, Akpan said the two buses left Bodija/Samonda Park in Ibadan on Wednesday but were delayed by traffic around Benin, Edo State.

According to him, the vehicles eventually reached Onitsha, Anambra State, late in the day.

He explained that they could not continue the journey because of the condition of the road, forcing the drivers and passengers to spend the night in Oba.

Akpan said the buses resumed their journey around 5 am on Thursday.

He said they had barely entered Imo State when gunmen emerged from the bush.

“They blocked the two vehicles and took 19 passengers, all corps members, into the bush,” he added.

Akpan noted that the drivers managed to escape and alerted security personnel at a nearby checkpoint, prompting the police and military to begin searching the area.

He, however, said the search operation was initially complicated when some villagers allegedly prevented security personnel from removing the abandoned buses from the scene.

According to him, the intervention delayed the movement of security personnel as they attempted to pursue the abductors.

The two buses were subsequently left at the scene, with passengers’ belongings scattered inside the vehicles.

The Imo State Police Command had on Thursday night said 10 victims were rescued.

In a statement obtained by Saturday PUNCH, the Police Public Relations Officer, Henry Okoye, explained that security agencies were on the trail of the abductors and had launched a coordinated search for the remaining victims.

However, Okoye could not confirm if the rescued victims were among the abducted corps members.

Parents in panic

A parent of one of the victims, who did not want to be named for security reasons, told Saturday PUNCH that the abductors contacted her through her son’s phone and demanded N50m for his release.

“The kidnappers called with my son’s phone this morning (Friday) and demanded N50m for his release. The N50m is for only my son,” she said.

Another mother, who identified herself as Mrs Oladosu, whose daughter, Greatness, was travelling to Uyo, said the abductors briefly contacted the family through her daughter’s phone.

She said the family was able to see Greatness and other victims during a video call.

“They used my daughter’s number to call us. We saw her and other corps members sitting on the ground in the bush, crying. Where will petty traders get N50m? They are just going to serve Nigeria; why this punishment?” Oladosu lamented.

In a viral video obtained by Saturday PUNCH on Friday, Mrs Alimotu Akanke, the mother of another victim, Akande Farouq, said she had been tracking her son’s journey when the distress message arrived.

Farouq, who was posted to Abia State, according to his mother, managed to send a one-word message, “Kidnappers!”, to his family WhatsApp group before his telephone line went dead.

A manifest from the two affected vehicles listed 30 passengers, 15 in each bus, while two other vehicles operated by the same company and heading to Abia State escaped the attack.

Among those on the manifest were Akande Kehinde, Olaleye Mary, Oladosu Greatness, Obafunsho Rhoda, Abdulrof Anifat, Esther Oyede, Hassan Usman, Ayomide Isa, Mary Makinde, Azeez Adejoke and Abdulrazaq Anifat.

Friends launch social media campaigns for victims

Some purported friends of the abducted prospective NYSC members have taken to social media to seek support for their rescue.

One of the victims was identified as Precious Oladipupo, a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University.

Writing on X, one Adebayo (@Adebayoakim1), solicited public support for the safe release of Wahab Ayandare, whom he claimed was also abducted in the same incident.

Another friend, Akinlabi Abayomi (@Mubiiiiin), appealed for help for another alleged victim, Oyindamola Adeoye.

Abayomi said the abductors had demanded N50m for her release.

Oyo govt condemns abduction

Meanwhile, the Oyo State Government has condemned the incident, describing the abduction as distressing and reprehensible.

The Commissioner for Information, Dotun Oyelade, stated the government’s position in a statement issued in Ibadan on Friday.

He said the government was in close communication with relevant security agencies, the Imo State Government and the NYSC leadership to ensure an urgent and coordinated response.

Oyelade said Governor Seyi Makinde had directed that all necessary resources be deployed to secure the safe return of the victims.

According to the commissioner, the governor emphasised that the safety and well-being of every Oyo State indigene, both within and outside the state, remained a top priority.

“We are fully committed to securing the safe release of our children and will stop at nothing to ensure that they are reunited with their families without harm,” the statement read.

The government urged the affected families to remain calm, assuring them that steps were being taken to secure the victims’ release.

It also called on security agencies to intensify efforts to rescue the victims and apprehend the perpetrators.

Abduction of NYSC members

The Imo attack came 36 days after 15 prospective corps members were abducted along the Aloma-Egane Expressway in Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State.

The victims, who were travelling from Bayelsa State to Abuja, were attacked by gunmen on August 26.

Security forces subsequently rescued the abducted corps members and other victims from Egume Forest in Ofu LGA.

In May, an Abuja-based lawyer and corps member, Eunice Ameh, was abducted in Maitama, Abuja, but later regained her freedom after a ransom was reportedly paid.

Similarly, corps member Musa Abba was abducted by bandits while travelling to Sokoto in January, raising concerns about the safety of young graduates across the country.

Also, Lateefah Binuyo, who was abducted in Kogi State while travelling to an orientation camp in Taraba State in January 2026, regained her freedom after 10 days in captivity.

Her abduction prompted the Lagos State House of Assembly to call for improved security along major routes used by corps members.

In February 2023, 15 corps members abducted in Anambra State were rescued by the police, while a corps member was killed during a gun battle between bandits and security operatives along the Kaduna-Abuja Expressway in 2022.

The recurrence of attacks involving prospective corps members travelling between states has therefore heightened concerns among parents and graduates over the safety of interstate movements and the security of participants in the NYSC scheme.

A 2023 report by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism revealed that at least 80 corps members were abducted between 2013 and 2023, with Rivers State accounting for half of the cases.

Findings by Saturday PUNCH also showed that more than 20 corps members were killed in various attacks between 2015 and 2026.

The incidents have left families of missing corps members searching for answers.

Experts seek review of NYSC deployment policy

A security analyst, Chidi Omeje, said criminal networks could be exploiting the predictable movement of young graduates during NYSC mobilisation and deployment periods.

“This is becoming a pattern, I think, because everyone has information about the mobilisation of corps members; criminals can use that to plan coordinated attacks.

“The Federal Government and the NYSC need to strengthen security arrangements for corps members travelling through identified kidnapping corridors,” he said.

A security expert, Olalekan Jackson-Ojo, said the NYSC’s national integration objective was being undermined by the inability to guarantee corps members’ safety across the country, adding that special security arrangements might not adequately address the risks in volatile areas.

He suggested that corps members be allowed to serve within their states or regions rather than being deployed to high-risk locations.

Jackson-Ojo warned that failure to review the deployment policy in line with prevailing security realities could discourage graduates from participating in the scheme and eventually threaten its survival.

An educationist, Dele Olapeju, said the spate of kidnappings involving corps members was contributing to declining public confidence in the NYSC, as apprehensive parents increasingly sought redeployment for their children.

He noted that the worsening insecurity had changed public perceptions of the scheme and stressed the need for stronger security and improved protection measures.

Olapeju urged the government to prioritise corps members’ safety and avoid deploying them to high-risk areas rather than dismantling a scheme established to promote national integration.

When contacted, the Director of Public Relations, NYSC, Caroline Embu, had yet to respond to enquiries about the latest incident as of press time. (Saturday PUNCH, but headline reworked)

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