Families Panic Over Imo Abduction of NYSC Members Travelling from Oyo

Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

Families of 19 prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members travelling from Ibadan to the orientation camp in Abia State were thrown into panic on Thursday after suspected kidnappers reportedly intercepted two buses conveying the youths along the Onitsha-Abia axis.

Most of the prospective corps members are graduates of the University of Ibadan (UI), Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, and other tertiary institutions in Oyo State.

The incident triggered anxiety at the Ibadan office of Udua King Transport Services in the Samonda area, where distraught parents and relatives gathered to demand information on the whereabouts of their children and the steps being taken by the transport company to secure their release.

It was gathered that four buses were deployed by the company to convey the prospective corps members to the NYSC permanent orientation camp in Abia State. Two of the buses reportedly escaped the suspected kidnappers’ ambush, while the other two were allegedly forced to stop by the gunmen.

According to information obtained from the transport company, 11 passengers and the drivers of the two affected buses managed to escape, while 15 others were reportedly taken away by the attackers.

The transport company’s manifest listed those allegedly abducted as Akande Kehinde, Olaleye Mary, Oladosu Greatness, Obafunsho Rhoda, Abdulrof Anifat, Esther Oyede, Hassan Usman, Ayomide Isa, Mary Makinde, Azeez Adejoke, Abdulrazaq Anifat, Sarah Temilolu, Adeoye Elizabeth, Eniola Samuel and Usman Temi.

A representative of the transport company, who declined to disclose his name, said the prospective corps members were allegedly abducted around Ihiala in the early hours of Thursday.

One of the parents, Mrs Alimot Akande, whose daughter, Kehinde Akande, a LAUTECH graduate, was among those reportedly abducted, said the journey had appeared uneventful until the family received a brief and frightening message from her.

According to her, the prospective corps members boarded the Udua King bus at Samonda in Ibadan for the journey to Abia State and stopped at Onitsha at about 10pm on Wednesday.

She said the journey resumed the following morning, but her daughter suddenly sent a message which simply read, “Kidnappers!”

Akande said that was the last communication she had with her daughter, adding that the family had been unable to establish further contact with her since the incident.

The development left parents who converged on the transport company’s premises visibly distressed, with many demanding details of the company’s efforts to locate and rescue the affected passengers.