Gistlover has learned that Miss Imaobong Samuel, a National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) participant who was abducted by robbers while en route to a NYSC orientation camp in Kogi State, has been set free.
In November of 2023, Samuel, a Higher National Diploma (HND) holder in Business Administration from Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic (AkwaPoly) in Ikot Osurua, Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, was abducted along with 11 other passengers on a bus operated by Akwa Ibom Transport Company (AKTC) traveling from Benin to Abuja.
The corps member was freed without incident after spending approximately a week in the bandits’ den in Kogi forest. The NYSC authorities then redeployed her back to Akwa Ibom, where she started her 21-day orientation program at the state’s NYSC camp in Ikot Itie Udung village, which is located in Nsit Atai Local Government Area.
Miss Samuel, who was swore in on Tuesday along with 2,339 other people, recounted her story and added that her freedom was obtained “after payment of some ransom.”
“To God be the glory, I have been officially sworn-in into the NYSC scheme and currently undergoing my 21 days orientation exercise at Nsit Atai, Akwa Ibom State,” she said.
In the meantime, Governor Umo Eno promised to fix social amenities in the camp so that the 2,339 Batch “C” Stream 11 Corps members assigned to serve in Akwa Ibom would have sufficient security and welfare throughout the three-week orientation exercise.
Eno encouraged the Corps members to uphold the highest standards in their patriotic obligations of serving the nation while in the state, as represented by Mr. Ifiok Duff, a Director in the state Ministry of Sports.
Also, towards ensuring the release of other eight Akwa Ibom prospective corp members seized by bandits in Zamfara State, while on their way from Abuja to Sokoto, on board the same AKTC bus in August, 2023, a coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Including the Ibom People’s Congress (IPC), have called on President Bola Tinubu, Akwa Ibom and Zamfara state governments, security agencies and other stakeholders to demonstrate more than a passing commitment to freeing “the innocent youths who were excited with full enthusiasm to serve their fatherland, but such ambition became truncated abruptly by bandits.”
Prof. John Okon, the president of the IPC, a group of diaspora people, and other coalition members bemoaned the horrific experiences of the victims, who included young women held captive by the bandits, and urged policymakers to “ensure freedom for the would-be Corps members to save the parents and loved ones the agony of living with the trauma of their missing children.”