By Ologeh Joseph Chibu
Armed men have kidnapped some eight National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC) who are of Southern Nigerian origin on their way to Sokoto
The kidnappers seized them in Zamfara state, the twin State of Sokoto.
Half of the Corps members that were kidnapped are girls.
They were on their way to Sokoto for the compulsory post University service.
The fresh University graduates were travelling from Akwa Ibom to Northern Nigeria where they are expected to serve their country in the mandatory youth services.
Sources told Irohinoodua that the Corps members left Akwa Ibom on Sunday, slept in Abuja and later left for Zamfara in the usually risky and life threatening travels by road in Africa’s most populous country.
The NYSC members were travelling in the state owned Akwa Ibom Transport Company (AKTC) bus from Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, to Sokoto State, for the one-year national service.
The highway to Sokoto has been hotbed of violent extremists who rule the arid terrain.
Sokoto is located in the extreme end of Akwa Ibom where they earlier took off on Sunday.
“Armed men stopped their vehicle. They were ordered to come down and taken into the bush” a source told Irohinoodua on Tuesday.
The source said there were 11 Corps members and the driver of the vehicle. Following the violent attacks, three of the Corps members were said to have escaped into the thick of the dawn hours.
The eight corps members were abducted alongside the driver, The Guardian learnt.
He said: “They left here (Uyo) on Friday, and slept over in Abuja. It was when they were proceeding to Sokoto that they were kidnapped. The corps members were offloaded (from the bus) and taken into the bush. The police have recovered the bus.”
He said the incident had been reported to the authorities and security agencies.
About 9:14 a.m. on Sunday, a Facebook user, Malachy Blessed, identified one of the abducted
Some of the kidnapped Corps members were Emmanuel Esudue, a graduate of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering from the Akwa Ibom State University and Betty Udofia, a graduate of Mass Communication from the University of Uyo.
