Armed men abducted an unspecified number of passengers, including National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members, from commercial buses on the Owerri-Onitsha Expressway in Imo State early on Thursday, Nigeria’s 66th Independence Day, according to reports and videos circulating online.
The attack occurred at about 5:30 a.m. on at least two buses. Passengers were reportedly robbed before being taken into nearby bushland. The exact number of victims remained unclear.
Some of those affected were corps members who had left Samonda park in Ibadan, Oyo State, the previous day aboard buses operated by Uko Akwa Ibom Motors. They were travelling to orientation camps in the South-East and South-South, including destinations in Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Imo and Abia states.
An eyewitness who filmed the scene said the attackers intercepted vehicles heading from Lagos towards Anambra State. “Good morning, my fellow Nigerians. I am reporting from the Owerri-Onitsha Road. This happened this morning,” the witness said in the video. Security forces later arrived, with soldiers entering the bush in search of the victims. “The police came this morning, and the army has already entered the bush to see if they can rescue the victims,” the eyewitness added.
Footage showed two abandoned buses by the roadside, one marked “Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nig. Ltd” with the registration Uko/133.
In a separate video, a distressed mother appealed for help after her daughter, identified only as Kehinde, a corps member, became unreachable. The family received a WhatsApp message from the young woman shortly after 6 a.m. containing the word “kidnapper,” after which contact was lost. “Since past 6am, I have not been able to hear from my child, and we couldn’t get her exact location anymore. Please, federal government, help us. I only have the two of them,” the mother said. Kehinde’s twin sister, Taiwo, had already reached her orientation camp in Enugu.
Relatives of other missing travellers visited the Ibadan park seeking information. The identities and total number of those abducted, as well as their whereabouts, had not been confirmed.
The Imo State Police Command had not issued an official statement by the time of reporting, and its spokesperson, Henry Okoye, had not responded to requests for comment.
