Gunmen abducted eight National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members on Saturday along a highway in Zamfara State. The victims were travelling from Uyo in Akwai Ibom State to Sokoto State for their one-year mandatory National service when the gunmen intercepted their bus along Zamfara highway.
An anonymous source confirmed the incident, stating that the corps members were 11, but three managed to escape from the kidnappers.
The source also confirmed that the bus driver was abducted alongside the eight corps members.
The source said, “The corps members were offloaded (from the bus) and taken into the bush,” he said. “The police have recovered the bus.”
“They left here (Uyo) on Friday and slept over in Abuja. It was when they were proceeding to Sokoto that they were kidnapped,”
At approximately 9:14 a.m. on Sunday, Malachy Blessed, a Facebook user, revealed in a post that one of the kidnapped corps members was Emmanuel Esudue, an alumnus of Akwa Ibom State University’s Department of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering.
The phone number of the corps member, according to him, has not been reachable since Thursday.
Betty Udofia has been recognised as another victim.
Edidiong Richard, a Facebook user, claimed that the kidnappers had gotten in touch with Ms. Udofia’s parents and were requesting a ransom of N4 million.