66th Independence Celebrations Turn Horror In Imo As Bandits Hijack 2 Buses, Kidnap 19 ‘Prospective’ Corps Members

66th Independence Celebrations Turn Horror In Imo As Bandits Hijack 2 Buses, Kidnap 19 ‘Prospective’ Corps Members

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OpenLife News reports that Nigeria’s 66th Independence Day celebration turned to horror in Imo State on Wednesday, October 1, as armed bandits hijacked two buses and kidnapped 19 prospective corps members.

The buses were conveying prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members from Ibadan, Oyo State to Uyo in Akwa Ibom and Bende in Abia State.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Wednesday at the Umunoha axis of the Owerri-Onitsha Expressway in Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State.

Sources in the area said the terrorists swooped on the two 18-seater buses and marched the passengers into the bush before security operatives arrived at the scene.

According to reports, the corps members had departed from Samonda Park in Ibadan around 10 a.m. on Tuesday, stopped over after Onitsha to sleep, and resumed their journey around 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

One of the victims, Akande Farouq, who was posted to Abia State, was said to have sent a brief text message reading “Kidnappers!” before his phone went unreachable.

His mother, Mrs. Alimotu Akanke, who made a social media appeal, confirmed the abduction.

“What happened is that my child, Akande Farouq, was going to serve in Abia State. He left the park yesterday, their vehicle departed from Samonda at 10 a.m…

“The next thing, we saw was a brief text message: ‘Kidnappers!’ Immediately after sending ‘kidnappers’, the person could not… Since then, we haven’t been able to reach them,” she narrated.

She added that only the driver of one of the buses escaped, while in the second vehicle, five people were taken and others escaped with the driver.“So, in total, there are about 19 passengers who boarded from Ibadan that we know of,” she said.

Mrs. Akanke appealed to the Federal Government, security agencies and the NYSC management to intervene.“I am begging the Nigerian Government, all security agencies, and the NYSC management, whatever they can do, please help us…

“Think of the effort put into raising them, only for them to be abducted on their way to serve their nation,” she pleaded.

As of the time of filing this report, security agencies and the NYSC authorities were yet to issue an official statement on the incident.