Nineteen prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom have been abducted, with their captors demanding N950 million for their release.
The victims were in two buses operated by Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nigeria Limited when gunmen attacked them along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Umunoha, Imo State, on Thursday.
The company’s Managing Director, Isiah Akpan, said the abductors had contacted some families and demanded N50 million for each victim.
Akpan said the buses left Bodija/Samonda Park in Ibadan on Wednesday but were delayed by heavy traffic around Benin City, Edo State. They later reached Onitsha, Anambra State, but stopped at Oba because of the road condition. They resumed at about 5am on Thursday.
He said the buses had barely entered Imo State when gunmen came from a nearby bush and blocked them.
“They blocked the two vehicles and took 19 passengers, all corps members, into the bush,” he said.
The drivers escaped and alerted security operatives at a nearby checkpoint. Police and military personnel then began searching for the victims.
Akpan said the operation was initially delayed after some villagers allegedly stopped security operatives from removing the abandoned buses.
The families are awaiting the safe return of their relatives as the search continues.
