Fifteen members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) have reportedly been abducted by gunmen while travelling through Kogi State after completing their orientation programme in Bayelsa State.
The corps members, who are believed to be part of the 2026 Batch B Stream II set, were reportedly returning from the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State when they were intercepted along the Ofu/Itobe–Onicha-Igo axis in Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State.
The incident is said to have occurred on Wednesday as the corps members travelled towards Abuja.
According to reports, the victims were travelling in a Peace Mass Transit bus and another vehicle belonging to Romchi Mass Transit Limited, marked 564, when gunmen reportedly opened fire and stopped the vehicles.
A relative of one of the abducted corps members told the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) that families were alerted after a police officer attached to the Kogi State Police Command, Adeji Joshua, reportedly contacted them using information obtained from the passengers’ manifest.
Mr Joshua reportedly said two buses were involved in the attack, adding that the driver of the Peace Mass Transit bus was badly injured but survived.
He said 16 passengers were listed on the manifest of the Peace Mass bus, but 15 were eventually taken by the kidnappers.
The officer reportedly explained that passengers in the second vehicle were largely allowed to leave because several were travelling with babies, although four people from the vehicle were also taken.
A video purportedly recorded at the scene of the incident reportedly shows the attackers firing shots before taking the victims into the surrounding bush.
The reported abduction has renewed concerns over the safety of corps members travelling across the country, particularly those returning from orientation camps.
As of Friday morning, there was no publicly confirmed information on the whereabouts of the 15 corps members or whether any ransom demand had been made.
The incident also comes amid growing concerns over insecurity affecting NYSC members, with previous cases of corps members being abducted while travelling to or from orientation camps.
Authorities are yet to provide a detailed public account of the latest incident or confirm whether security agencies have launched a rescue operation.
