‘I JUST LOST MY MUM, CAN’T LOSE MY SISTER,’ SAYS SIBLING OF ABDUCTED CORPS MEMBER IN KOGI. (PHOTO)

‘I just lost my mum, can’t lose my sister,’ says sibling of abducted corps member in Kogi

The sister of one of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members abducted in Kogi State has appealed to the Federal Government and security agencies to intensify efforts to free the victims still held by gunmen.

The woman, identified as Chidinma, said in an emotional Instagram Story post on Saturday that her family was still grieving the death of their mother a few months earlier and could not bear another loss. She disputed reports that some of the abducted corps members had been rescued, insisting her sister remained missing and that the victims were suffering in the forest while their families struggled to meet the kidnappers’ demands.

In an update on the incident, gunmen who seized the corps members three days earlier have demanded ₦20 million ransom for each victim. The corps members were travelling from Bayelsa State to Abuja after completing their three-week orientation exercise when they were abducted along the Aloma-Egane Expressway in Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State; a family member of one victim earlier confirmed the abductors had contacted relatives with the demand, while police said 11 people, including the drivers of the two vehicles involved, had already been rescued in a joint operation, with efforts continuing to free those still in captivity.

Chidinma said her sister had completed the orientation camp in Bayelsa, been posted to Niger State for her Place of Primary Assignment, and was returning to Abuja when the vehicle was attacked and the driver killed. “Those children are in the forest suffering, the kidnappers kept asking for what we cannot afford. Government should take this matter up because those children are still government property,” she said, accusing the NYSC of failing to provide adequate information and pleading with the Federal Government, Nigerians and the United Nations to intervene.

Meanwhile, the Kogi State Police Command confirmed the abduction occurred last Wednesday when armed men emerged from the bush near Ogene Zaria, blocked two buses travelling in opposite directions and seized some passengers. Police spokesperson ASP Salisu Oyiza Afusat said a joint security team recovered two abandoned vehicles—a Peace Mass Transit white Hummer bus and a yellow 18-seater bus—and rescued 11 victims, most of them NYSC members travelling from Bayelsa to Abuja. The rescued persons were debriefed and allowed to continue their journey, while the operation to locate remaining victims and arrest the perpetrators continues in the surrounding forest.