Gunmen, believed to be bandits, have reportedly abducted eight members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) while they were travelling on a highway in Zamfara State.
The group was travelling in an AKTC bus from Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, with the destination being Sokoto State as part of their mandatory national service. However, their vehicle was intercepted on the highway within Zamfara.
A source from the transport company disclosed to the Vanguard newspaper that the corps members were 11 but that three managed to escape from the gunmen.
The abductors also took the bus driver in addition to the eight corps members.
“The corps members were offloaded (from the bus) and taken into the bush. The police have recovered the bus.
“They left here (Uyo) on Friday, and slept over in Abuja. It was when they were proceeding to Sokoto that they were kidnapped,” he said. According to the source, the incident has been reported to the authorities.
In a Facebook post shared on Sunday by Malachy Blessed, the identity of one of the abducted corps members was identified as Emmanuel Esudue, a graduate of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering from Akwa Ibom State University.
Mr. Blessed indicated that since Thursday, the contact number of the said corps member has remained unreachable.
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