POLICE COMB BUSHES FOR ABDUCTED CORPERS
Read Time:3 Minute, 34 Second
Police are searching through bushes looking for missing National Youth Service Corps members and other people who were taken by force along the Aloma–Egane Expressway in Ofu Local Government Area.
The Kogi State Police Command and other security teams are still looking for the kidnapped people and the attackers.
So far, 11 victims, including the drivers of the two buses that were attacked on Wednesday, have been found and rescued by Friday.
The search is still ongoing for the other missing people and the attackers.
According to the police spokesperson, Salisu Afusat, the attackers came out of the bushes near Ogene Zaria, close to the Ogene Zaria/Onicha-Igo Junction.
They stopped two buses going in opposite directions and took some passengers.Some people managed to escape into the bushes.
Afusat said, “Around 4:40 pm, armed criminals came out of the bushes near Ogene Zaria, close to the Ogene Zaria/Onicha-Igo Junction, stopped two buses going in opposite directions, kidnapped some passengers, while others ran into the surrounding bushes.”
She said the Divisional Police Officer, Ofu, led a joint security team to the scene after receiving a distress call.
According to her, two abandoned vehicles, a Peace Mass Transit white Hummer bus and a yellow 18-seater bus, were recovered before a coordinated bush-combing and rescue operation was launched.
Afusat said the operation led to the rescue of 11 victims, including the drivers of the two buses.
She added that preliminary debriefing showed that most of the rescued victims were NYSC members travelling from Bayelsa State to Abuja.
“The victims were debriefed and, after necessary procedures, allowed to continue their journey,” she said.
The police spokesperson said the joint security operation remained ongoing in the surrounding forest to rescue any remaining victims and apprehend the perpetrators.
She assured residents and travellers that available operational and intelligence resources were being deployed to secure the area.
Meanwhile, transport operators have stepped up security measures on inter-state routes following the abduction of the corps members and other passengers.
The Secretary-General, Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, Yusuf Adeniyi, told Saturday PUNCH on Friday that transport operators were taking measures across the country to reduce the risks faced by passengers and drivers on highways.
Adeniyi said the association was collaborating with security agencies, but noted that details of some of the measures could not be made public without compromising ongoing operations.
“We have to be clever enough to ensure we take measures that will be protecting our passengers, our customers, the commuters and our employees, the drivers.
“Security agents will not be happy to hear that we are subjecting what we are doing in secret to public consumption. It will expose their strategies. It will risk their life and the life of our commuters.
“But we are taking necessary measures to ensure the safety of the lives of our customers, the commuters and their property, our employees, and the drivers,” he said.
The NYSC has yet to issue an official statement on the abduction three days after the incident.
Checks by Saturday the press showed that the scheme had not publicly disclosed the number of corps members affected or provided an update on the status of those still believed to be missing.
The Director of Information and Public Relations, Caroline Embu, did not also respond to an inquiry sent by one of our correspondents as of the time of filing this report.
The incident came to public attention after a woman who identified herself as the sister of one of the abducted corps members made an emotional appeal for government intervention in a viral video on social media.
On the issue of merger, the movement resolved that it “shall remain an independent organisation and shall not be merged into or absorbed by any external political body.”
It said any consolidation imposed from outside could disrupt ongoing programmes, blur its identity and undermine the momentum built over time.
The movement, however, stressed that its independence did not mean isolation, saying it remained willing to coordinate with allied groups in pursuit of shared political objectives.
On reconciliation, the summit invited Ms Jacky Wayas to return to the movement as Director for Strategic Implementation and Planning, working under the leadership of the Director-General.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0