Assault On NYSC Members

Public condemnation has trailed the brutal and dehumanising attack on some members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) serving in Anambra State.

A distressing viral video surfaced on August 18, 2025, showing a serving NYSC member Edema Jennifer Elohor being violently assaulted and terrorised by a group of men carrying arms. They did not just beat her roundly, they tore her clothes and practically stripped her naked.

The culprits were later identified as members of a vigilante group in the state, Operation Udo Ga‑Achi, also known as the Agunechemba Vigilante Group, which was set up by the Anambra State government to assist the security agencies with crime prevention.

According to the main victim of the attack, Miss Elohor. the men kicked open their NYSC lodge in Oba, Idemili South LGA, Anambra State and wanted to whisk them away on the claim that they were suspected to be internet fraudsters, commonly called Yahoo Yahoo. Despite identifying themselves as NYSC members serving in the community and pleading with the operatives to allow them contact NYSC authorities, the vigilante members rebuffed all entreaties and went about their ignoble actions, calling them all manner of degrading names and threatening to shoot them.

The vigilantes never presented any shred of evidence to support their claim. In any case, their brief as a quasi-security outfit does not extend to the kind of power they exercised. Even if they had any anti-crime intent, their job was to communicate their suspicion to the police authorities who would then investigate.
As a newspaper we join all those who have condemned the actions of these vigilantes group – prominent among them the NYSC, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the Nigeria Human Rights Commission. All described it as barbaric, untenable and a gross violation of the girls’ rights. They all called for justice to be served and fast. We concur.

The vigilantes’ action is particularlyindefensible as the NYSC is a five-decade-old institution set up to promote unity, social cohesion and national development in a multi-ethnic country like Nigeria. Graduates from Nigeria’s ivory towers are posted to states and cultures other than their own for the mandatory one year of national service before proceeding on their career paths. Communities hosting such youths usually accord them hospitality and all the necessary support they need to complete their national assignment.

By assaulting Miss Elohor, the local vigilantes were – perhaps unwittingly – striking at one of the few enduring symbols of national unity. If not well managed, this kind of action could lead to unintended consequences in the home communities of the victims; it is that serious.

We commend Anambra State authorities for acting promptly in dismissing the eight vigilante operatives involved in the attack. Its decision to cover Miss Elohor’s medical expenses, replace damaged items, issue public apologies to Elohor’s family and the NYSC, and its pledge to hand over the perpetrators to the police for prosecution are all good steps, just as Anambra State Police Command’s pledge to secure justice for the victim. However, such words must be matched with verifiable actions. In this wise, it would be expedient for the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (OAGF) to be apprised of developments in the case so that it does not suffer mistrial by local persecutors. After all, the girl is presently an agent of the federal government and its responsibility.

With the level of insecurity across some states and the inadequacies of formal security formations to deal effectively with emergent security challenges, we acknowledge the necessity of states to establish some form of local security outfits, like the one whose operatives carried out this assault, however, their activities must be strictly regulated and oversighted so that the barbarity seen in this assault, and the killings of travelling hunters that happened earlier in Edo State, could be averted.

Also, proper background checks must be carried out on persons recruited into such outfits to avoid populating such important bodies with hoodlums who would turn them into avenues for extortion and human rights abuses. They must not only be attached to the formal security agencies, but their operatives must be given trainings and reorientation courses to acquaint them with their job specifications and how to go about them.
Another troubling aspect of the incident is the penchant by individuals in such situations to act in ways that violate the dignity of the human person. Both cases of assault on Miss Elohor and the recent altercation between Akwa Ibom airline staff and Passenger Comfort Emmanson ended up with both women being stripped naked in public, subjecting them to undue indecent exposure and public shame. Regrettably, this kind of unholy action is prevalent in many parts of the country.

As a newspaper, we deplore this kind of barbarity wherever it occurs. Accused individuals are presumed innocent until the law decides otherwise. In any case, no law prescribes nudity as punishment for any offence. Stripping suspects naked is nothing but mob justice, which has no place in modern society. Those caught in such acts must be dealt with according to law to deter others with such tendencies.