A family has appealed to the Federal Government and security agencies for the urgent rescue of a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Kehinde, who was reportedly abducted while travelling to Abia State for the mandatory service programme.
According to the family, Kehinde was travelling with other prospective corps members in a convoy of buses when the alleged incident occurred along the Imo-Abia axis early Thursday morning.
The family said they were monitoring the journey through live location sharing when, shortly after 6:00 a.m., Kehinde reportedly sent a brief message to the family group saying “Kidnappers” before making a missed call.
The phone reportedly went offline shortly afterwards, leaving relatives unable to establish further contact with the corps member.
The family said the travellers had spent the night at an undisclosed location before resuming their journey around 4:30 a.m. They added that photographs and videos later shared among relatives allegedly showed that the bus carrying Kehinde and other passengers had been taken.
According to the account, three buses were travelling together, with one reportedly escaping while passengers in the other buses were allegedly taken into the bush.
A relative claimed that about 19 people were believed to have been aboard the affected bus, although the exact number of people involved and circumstances surrounding the incident have not been independently verified.
The family said repeated calls to Kehinde’s phone were unsuccessful, although the line reportedly continued to ring without being answered.
Kehinde’s twin sibling, Taiye, who was posted to Enugu State, has reportedly arrived safely at the NYSC orientation camp, according to the family.
The family has called on the Nigeria Police Force, the Federal Government and other security agencies to intensify efforts to locate and rescue Kehinde and others reportedly taken during the incident.
The reported abduction has renewed concerns about the safety of travellers and prospective corps members travelling to various parts of the country for the NYSC programme.
Authorities had yet to publicly confirm the reported incident or provide details on the identities and number of people allegedly affected at the time of the report.
