20 Freed NYSC Corps Members Back with Families in Ibadan; Recall Harrowing Ordeal.

Twenty (20) NYSC members who spent a week in captivity in an Imo forest were freed on Wednesday and have been re-united with their family members in Ibadan.

The Department of State Services (DSS) command in Oyo handed over the abductees to their relatives at about 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, according to The Nation. The relatives waited for about three hours at the DSS headquarters before the reunions took place.

Security operatives debriefed the victims in Ibadan before they were released to their families, The Cable reported.

One of the freed corps members, Akande Morenikeji, said the seven-day period in captivity was mentally and physically draining. “Ah, it was stressful, too,” she said.

Morenikeji added that the female victims were not chained or sexually assaulted during their captivity, though the male victims experienced restrictions. “We were not chained; the guys, yes, the guys mostly. But as for us, the girls, they did not do any sexual harassment to us. They did not do anything sexual to us,” she said.

The NYSC members were abducted on Thursday, October 1 along the Owerri–Onitsha expressway in Imo when gunmen attacked two 18-seater buses conveying the corps members and other passengers and took them into the bush. A video that circulated on X showed the victims travelling to Akwa Ibom and Abia states in buses bearing the Abia State government logo when they were intercepted.

In a statement announcing the rescue, Anietie Iniedu, spokesperson for the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), said a joint team of operatives from the DSS, military and police carried out the operation.

The abductors initially contacted the victims’ parents on Saturday and demanded a ransom of N1 billion with a 24-hour deadline. They later reduced the demand to N5 million per person — a total of N100 million for all 20 victims.

Inspector-General of Police Tunji Disu deployed Deputy Inspector-General Shehu Nadada to coordinate rescue efforts. The force spokesperson said Nadada arrived in Imo with two commissioners of police, conducted an on-the-spot assessment, reviewed personnel deployments and operational assets, and issued directives to strengthen the coordinated response.

Source - https://www.thecable.ng/20-freed-nysc-members-reunite-with-families-in-ibadan-recount-ordeal/