Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
The 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps members and one other person abducted along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Imo State have regained their freedom, seven days after they were taken into captivity by gunmen who attacked their convoy on Thursday, October 1, 2026. The victims are currently receiving medical attention at the Department of State Services Hospital in Owerri, according to Channels Television. The Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps, Brigadier General Olakunle Oluseye Nafiu, is presently at the DSS Clinic in Owerri addressing the rescued victims, accompanied by the Imo State Commissioner of Police, the Director of the DSS and the Commander of the 34 Artillery Brigade, Imo State.
The graduates were travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to their orientation camps in Abia State when gunmen attacked the two buses conveying them at Umunoha, in the Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State. The abduction triggered a nationwide outcry and a coordinated search-and-rescue operation involving the military, the Department of State Services, the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies. The operation that led to the release of the victims was intelligence-led, according to a security source who confirmed the development to TheCable.
The rescue operation had been complicated by the difficult terrain and the presence of improvised explosive devices around the abductors’ camp. On Saturday, October 4, the Imo State Commissioner of Police, Audu Garba Bosso, disclosed that police operatives had located the camp where the victims were being held using drone surveillance, but had delayed a full assault because intelligence indicated that the area was mined with explosives. “We are moving in with bulldozers and armoured personnel carriers to see how we’re going to rescue these victims unhurt,” Bosso said at the time. The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, deployed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations, DIG Shehu Umar Nadada, to Imo State to coordinate the rescue operation. The DIG was accompanied by two Commissioners of Police and conducted an on-the-spot assessment of the situation alongside the Imo State Commissioner of Police, the Commissioner of Police, Federal Operations, and the Commissioner of Police in charge of the Police Mobile Force.
During the seven days of captivity, the abductors reportedly subjected the victims to physical assault, including the female victims, and initially demanded a ransom of N50 million for each victim, amounting to N1 billion. They later reduced the demand to N5 million per person, bringing the total to N100 million. The parents of the victims had made desperate appeals to the authorities and traditional leaders to secure the release of their children, with some families travelling from Oyo State to Imo State to press for action. The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladooja, had received the families and assured them that the victims would be rescued unharmed.
Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma commended the security agencies for their swift intervention in securing the release of the corps members, praising their collaboration and patriotism and saying their coordinated efforts ensured the safe release of the victims. The Governor personally conveyed the development to the Olubadan of Ibadanland during a telephone conversation at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday, according to a statement by the Olubadan’s media aide, Adeola Oloko. The Oyo State Government, which had been working closely with the Imo State Government and security agencies since the abduction, also welcomed the release of the corps members. The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Dotun Oyelade, had earlier disclosed that the state was volunteering the templates and experiences it garnered during the Oriire kidnapping incident, and that the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into that abduction was being used in the ongoing bilateral discussions.
The abduction of the prospective corps members was the latest in a series of attacks targeting travellers and young Nigerians undertaking the mandatory national service programme. In August 2026, kidnappers abducted corps members travelling from Bayelsa State to Abuja and demanded N20 million for each victim. In January, a prospective corps member was abducted along the Kogi axis while travelling to Taraba State, with her abductors demanding N30 million. The frequency of these incidents has raised questions about the safety of the NYSC scheme, which requires hundreds of thousands of graduates to travel across the country each year to serve in states other than their own. The National Association of Nigerian Students, Southwest Zone D, had called on the Federal Government to review compulsory long-distance postings and introduce safer deployment and transportation arrangements, demanding the immediate implementation of the risk-sensitive deployment framework approved by the Federal Executive Council in June 2026 as part of comprehensive NYSC reforms.
The release of the 20 corps members and one other person brings a measure of relief to their families, who had endured seven days of agonising uncertainty. The victims are now receiving medical attention, and the NYSC Director-General has visited them to assess their condition and offer support. The coming days will determine what further medical and psychological support the rescued corps members require and whether the security agencies can apprehend the perpetrators of the abduction. For the Nigerian public, the incident has renewed attention to the persistent security challenges facing travellers on the country’s highways and to the vulnerability of young Nigerians participating in national service. The 2027 general elections are less than four months away, and the abduction and rescue of the corps members has become another reminder of the security environment in which the elections will be conducted.
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