One of the 15 National Youth Service Corps members abducted in Kogi State has narrated how their captors fired repeatedly into the air, forced them deep into the forest and subjected them to flogging, kicking and threats of death.
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Speaking in a video recorded after their rescue, the corps member said the victims were travelling from the NYSC orientation camp in Bayelsa State to Abuja when gunmen intercepted their vehicle in Kogi State.
“We were going to Abuja from Bayelsa camp. There were organised vehicles going to different states, so we got an Abuja vehicle,” he said.
According to him, their driver attempted to escape when the gunmen stopped the vehicle, but the attackers demanded to know who was driving.
“They opened the door and started leading us into the bush while they were shooting rounds of bullets in the air,” the survivor recalled.
“We made our way into the bush with flogging, kicking and shouting.”
He said the kidnappers later ordered them to sit in a secluded part of the forest, where they threatened that the victims would remain in captivity for one month and could be killed.
“They asked us to sit down. They said we would be there for one month and threatened to kill all of us,” he said.
The survivor explained that the captives were forced to walk for several hours during the night before the kidnappers found an open area where they could sleep.
He added that the gunmen warned that anyone who moved without permission would be shot, leaving the victims too frightened to attempt an escape.
“They warned us that if anybody moved without permission, they would shoot the person. None of us attempted to move because of fear,” he said.
The corps member expressed relief that personnel of the Nigerian Army and other security agencies eventually located them.
“Thank God, the Nigerian Army came to meet us. It was not just the Nigerian Army; other security agencies were there. The police, the SSS and local hunters were there,” he said.
The rescued corps members were seen in the video seated together, with armed military personnel standing behind them.
The victims, who were members of the 2026 Batch ‘B’ Stream II, were abducted on Wednesday, August 26, after completing their orientation programme at the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
They were travelling to Abuja when gunmen attacked two vehicles around the Ogene Zaria/Onicha-Igo Junction on the Aloma-Egane Expressway in Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State at about 4:40 p.m.
The vehicles included a white Peace Mass Transit bus and a yellow 18-seater bus marked “564.”
A police officer who responded to the incident reportedly obtained the victims’ next-of-kin information from a passenger manifest abandoned at the scene.
The driver of the Peace Mass Transit bus was reportedly injured during the attack and taken to a hospital.
Preliminary accounts indicated that some passengers escaped into the surrounding forest, while 15 corps members and other travellers were taken away.
Following the incident, a joint security team comprising personnel of the military, police, SSS and local vigilantes launched a search-and-rescue operation across the forest corridors in Ofu Local Government Area.
The Director of Defence Information, Major General Michael Onoja, initially announced during the Defence Headquarters’ monthly briefing in Abuja that 10 of the 15 corps members had been rescued from Egume Forest.
He said the operation was continuing to rescue the remaining victims and arrest those responsible for the abduction.
However, a subsequent update confirmed that the operation ultimately secured the release of all 15 corps members and six other abducted travellers.
The 21 rescued victims, comprising eight males and 13 females, were recovered from the Egume-Ochaja forest in Ofu Local Government Area.
President Bola Tinubu, reacting to the development, confirmed that all the victims had regained their freedom.
“I am delighted to receive the news that the fifteen members of the National Youth Service Corps and six other innocent and law-abiding Nigerians abducted last week in Kogi State by some criminal elements have regained their freedom,” the President said.
Tinubu said the victims were rescued through a coordinated operation conducted by the military, police, SSS and local vigilantes.
He added that the rescued persons were receiving medical attention before being reunited with their families.
The President said security personnel remained on the trail of the kidnappers and warned that those responsible for the attack, including anyone who assisted them, would face the full weight of the law.
He commended the combined search-and-rescue team for its courage and thanked the victims’ families for their patience throughout the ordeal.
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