Tensions have reached a boiling point in Imo State following a dire 24-hour ultimatum issued by heavily armed kidnappers threatening to execute 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members unless a massive ₦1 billion ransom is paid.
​The prospective corps members were intercepted and forced out of their commercial bus near the Umunoha community along the Owerri–Onitsha express road in Mbaitoli Local Government Area. The victims were traveling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to various orientation camps across the South-East and South-South regions to begin their mandatory one-year national service.
​The abductors contacted family members of the victims, issuing an unyielding deadline and threatening lethal action. Representatives of the frantic families convened a joint emergency press briefing at the Imo State Union Secretariat in Owerri, appealing to the Federal Government, security agencies, and state authorities for immediate intervention.
​Speaking on behalf of the distressed families, Mr. Isaiah Akpan expressed the agony and hopelessness of the parents, noting that the forced financial burden is impossible for ordinary citizens to meet.
​”We received direct phone calls from the captors holding our children in the forest. They warned us that if ₦1 billion, roughly ₦50 million per prospective corps member, is not delivered within 24 hours, they will start killing them one after the other.
These are young university graduates who were simply answering the call to serve their fatherland. Where do they expect poor, struggling parents to source ₦1 billion overnight?”
​The incident has drawn swift response from law enforcement, though anxiety among relatives continues to mount as the deadline clock ticks down.
​Addressing journalists in Owerri, the Chief Public Relations Officer of the Imo State Police Command, CSP Henry Okoye, confirmed that security personnel have been mobilized across the axis to locate the hideout.
​”The Command, in active synergy with the military and local vigilante units, has deployed tactical squads, including the Rapid Response Team, into the surrounding forests of Mbaitoli and neighboring LGAs. A Deputy Inspector-General of Police is coordinating the field operations. We urge the public and affected families to remain calm and avoid taking actions that could compromise the tactical strategy. Our primary objective is the safe rescue of all hostages and the arrest of these criminal elements.”
​Civil rights organisations and student bodies have joined in demanding immediate government action, criticising the persistent security vulnerabilities along major interstate transit corridors.
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) issued statements calling on federal authorities to urgently review transport safety protocols for prospective corps members.
​As the 24-hour ultimatum draws closer, families remain in a desperate state of vigil, waiting on security forces to safely locate and free their children before the captors carry out their deadly threats.
