Security agencies have located the suspected hideout of the kidnappers holding prospective National Youth Service Corps members in Imo State but have delayed a raid over fears that the camp is planted with improvised explosive devices.
The Imo State Commissioner of Police, Audu Bosso, said security operatives tracked the kidnappers into the bush and used drones to identify the location of the camp.
He said the operation would proceed after adequate measures were put in place to protect the hostages and security personnel.
“Any moment, we’ll still move into the bush. Yesterday, we were in the bush, we trailed them up to a particular location,” Bosso said.
He added that the drone surveillance had provided security agencies with the exact location of the suspected camp but that intelligence reports indicated the area had been mined.
“But our predicament is that with the intel we have, the camp is mined with IEDs,” the commissioner said.
Bosso said bulldozers and armoured personnel carriers would be deployed as part of the operation to gain access to the camp and rescue the victims.
“We’re moving in with bulldozers and APCs to see how we’re going to rescue these victims unhurt,” he said.
The police spokesperson in Imo, Henry Okoye, said security operatives were “closing in on the kidnappers”, adding that personnel involved in the operation had been briefed on the next phase of the mission.
The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, had deployed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations, Shehu Nadada, and two commissioners of police to Imo to reinforce the rescue effort.
Nadada arrived in the state on Friday and reviewed the personnel, operational strategy and equipment deployed for the search.
The prospective corps members were travelling in two buses from Ibadan, Oyo State, to NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states when gunmen attacked them along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Umunoha, Imo State, on Thursday.
The incident has, however, produced conflicting accounts over the number of passengers abducted and those rescued.
While the Imo State Police Command initially announced that 10 victims had been rescued, the parents of the prospective corps members disputed the claim, saying the 10 passengers had escaped into the bush rather than being rescued by security operatives.
The parents said 30 people were travelling in the two buses, with 10 escaping and 20 being taken into captivity.
The Defence Headquarters had separately said 20 passengers were abducted and 10 people, including eight prospective corps members, were rescued.
The conflicting accounts have made it difficult to establish the exact number of prospective corps members still being held.
Meanwhile, the families are facing a ransom demand of N50m for each victim, with the parents putting the total demand at N1bn for 20 abducted graduates.
The kidnappers reportedly gave the families 24 hours to raise the money and threatened to harm the victims if the ransom was not paid.
“They have been calling us since yesterday (Friday) with a demand for N50m ransom each. They are threatening that anything untoward will happen to our children if we fail to heed their request,” one of the parents, Alhaja Alimot Akande, said.
The parents appealed to the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, the Oyo State Government and security agencies to intervene before the deadline expires.
Ladoja assured the families that efforts were being made to secure the safe release of the graduates.
“The police are working round the clock to secure their rescue. Don’t worry yourself, the police are up to the task, and nothing will happen to your children,” he said.
The Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Abimbola, said he had been in contact with his Imo counterpart, who assured him that the victims would be rescued unhurt.
The Oyo State Government said Governor Seyi Makinde had directed that necessary resources be deployed to support the rescue operation and that it was liaising with the Imo State Government, security agencies and NYSC leadership.
The abduction has also renewed calls for a review of the NYSC scheme.
African Action Congress presidential candidate for the 2027 election, Omoyele Sowore, called for the immediate suspension and eventual scrapping of the scheme, arguing that forcing young Nigerians to travel long distances for national service exposed them to avoidable risks.
He said the NYSC had “outlived its usefulness in its present form” and proposed that corps members should, in the interim, be allowed to serve in their states of origin.
Sowore also proposed replacing the scheme with a voluntary National Job Corps focused on employment, skills development, public works, technology, agriculture, healthcare and education.
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