Oyo and Imo state governments are working to secure the release of 20 prospective corps members abducted by gunmen on the Owerri-Onitsha Highway in Imo State, as security agencies intensify efforts to locate the victims.
The graduates were seized on Thursday while travelling from Ibadan to their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camps. Gunmen attacked the two buses carrying them at Umunoha. The abductors reportedly demanded ₦50 million for each corps member, putting the total ransom at ₦1 billion.
The Oyo State Government said on Sunday that it was in direct contact with the Imo Government and working with security agencies in both states to facilitate the victims’ release.
Oyo State Commissioner for Information, Dotun Oyelade, said the state was drawing on its experience in handling the Oriire kidnapping incident to support the effort.
“Oyo State is volunteering the templates and experiences it garnered during the Oriire kidnapping incident,” he said, adding that the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into that case was also useful to the bilateral discussions.
Oyelade said the government was deliberately withholding details of its operational measures because public disclosure could jeopardise the rescue mission.
“The focus should indeed be on the Federal Government and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, who are responsible for national security, particularly on the actions taken within the first 72 hours of the incident,” he said.
He assured that Oyo would continue working with Imo, security agencies and other stakeholders until the 20 graduates were safely recovered.
Oyelade also recalled Governor Seyi Makinde’s recent appeal to President Bola Tinubu to accelerate efforts to rescue 40 Borno students abducted on May 15, the same day students and teachers were kidnapped in Oyo’s Oriire Local Government Area.
