NYSC Mum On Plans For 20 Freed Abductees

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has yet to clarify whether it would compensate the 20 prospective corps members who were abducted in Imo State and subsequently freed after spending seven days in captivity, or grant them automatic placement in the next batch.

This followed an enquiry by LEADERSHIP Weekend to the NYSC’s director of information and public relations, Caroline Embu, seeking clarification on the fate of the affected prospective corps members who missed their orientation camp following the abduction.

In a message to Embu yesterday, our correspondent asked if the NYSC was making any arrangement for the affected corps members, particularly regarding compensation or automatic redeployment in the next batch.

However, Embu had yet to respond to the enquiry at of the time of filing this report.

A call was also placed to her number, but she neither answered nor returned the call.

The 20 Prospective Corps Members were abducted on October 1, 2026 when gunmen attacked two buses conveying them from Oyo State to orientation camps in the South-East.

The attack occurred along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Umunoha, Imo State. They reportedly spent seven days in captivity before regaining their freedom around October 7 and 8, 2026.
Following their release, the victims were handed over to their families at the Department of State Services (DSS) headquarters in Ibadan, Oyo State, before undergoing medical evaluations and debriefing.

However, accounts of how they regained freedom have differed.

While security agencies and state authorities attributed their release to a joint operation involving the police, DSS and military, the victims’ families reportedly claimed that they paid ransoms ranging from N3 million to N6 million to secure their release.