RismadarVoice Reporters, August 28, 2026
15 corps members travelling from Bayelsa’s orientation camp to Abuja were reportedly kidnapped, and their driver was killed along the Ofu/Itobe-Onicha-Igo axis in Kogi State. Police have yet to confirm the incident.
The incident is said to have occurred on Wednesday, August 26, along the Ofu/Itobe–Onicha-Igo axis, a route within the same general corridor that has recorded several kidnapping incidents in recent weeks. According to the report, attackers intercepted the vehicle conveying the corps members, killed the driver, and abducted all 15 occupants.
A relative of one of the victims reportedly confirmed the abduction to FIJ, saying the corps members were en route to Abuja when the attack occurred. As of this report, authorities have not publicly confirmed the incident, disclosed further details, or indicated whether any rescue operation is underway.
If confirmed, this would be the latest in a string of security incidents affecting NYSC members travelling to or from orientation camps nationwide, a pattern that prompted the pan-Yoruba group Afenifere to renew calls earlier this year for corps members to be posted within their states of origin or geopolitical zones rather than across the country.
It would also add to a concentrated wave of kidnappings along the Ofu LGA highway corridor in Kogi State, which recorded two separate mass-kidnapping incidents earlier: athis month, 16-person abduction on the Ojuwo Ajengo–Memarebo axis on August 9, and a follow-up abduction along the nearby Ajaokuta–Itobe road days later, both of which were ultimately resolved through joint military and police rescue operations.
Given the current lack of official confirmation, the specific circumstances of this incident, including the fate of the driver and the abducted corps members, should be treated as unverified pending a statement from the Kogi State Police Command, the Nigerian Army, or NYSC officials.
