The Kogi State Police Command and other security operatives have continued to comb the surrounding bushes for National Youth Service Corps members and other passengers abducted along the Aloma–Egane Expressway in Ofu Local Government Area of the state.
The police said 11 victims, including the drivers of the two buses attacked on Wednesday, had been rescued as of Friday, while the search continued for other victims and the attackers.
According to the police spokesperson in the state, Salisu Afusat, the attackers emerged from the bush around Ogene Zaria, near the Ogene Zaria/Onicha-Igo Junction, and blocked two buses travelling in opposite directions.
“At about 1640hrs, armed hoodlums emerged from the bush around Ogene Zaria, near the Ogene Zaria/Onicha-Igo Junction, blocked two buses travelling in opposite directions and abducted some passengers, while others escaped into the surrounding bush,” Afusat said.
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 PUNCH 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.
