One of the prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members abducted in Imo State has recounted how she and other victims were beaten, threatened, and forced to survive on garri and dirty water while being held in a forest by their abductors.
The victim, speaking in a BBC interview, recounted the conditions she endured in captivity after 20 prospective corps members and another passenger traveling to their NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states were abducted.
According to her, the abductors listened in on their calls to relatives and assaulted those whose conversations they did not like, using weapons as well as their bare hands.
“We are given a phone to call our family, and if any family says anything they don’t want to hear or any rubbish that would make them angry, we will be beaten,” she said.
“That person will be beaten and use the gun and wood. Sometimes they use their hands to punch them, mostly the guys.”
Describing how the abduction took place, the victim stated that their bus had left at around 9 a.m. and stopped several times during the trip.
She recounted that the driver finally stopped at a certain spot because the upcoming part of the journey was deemed unsafe, and the passengers were told to rest before continuing.
She mentioned that she got in touch with her family to let them know they would be spending the night at a public place before sleeping.
She added, though, that she woke up to discover she was in the kidnappers’ hands, without any clear idea of how they had been taken into the forest.
“When I woke up, that was when the incident happened. I don’t know how we got to the forest where we were kept for some time,” she said.
The victim stated that they were subsequently taken deeper into the forest, where their captors provided them with little food and dirty water.
“What we are eating there is just garri. Like Igbo garri, dry garri with mud water. Very dirty water,” she said.
“I can’t even give my enemy that water. We don’t have a choice; we have to take it for survival.”
She described the psychological toll of the experience, saying she struggled to comprehend what was happening to her.
“I can’t explain how I felt. I can’t even cry; I was just looking. I was lost. I don’t know what to do,” she said.
“It felt like it was a movie. I don’t believe that this is happening to me.”
The victim also stated that she had not expected to survive the ordeal, describing the experience as something that felt unreal.
“I don’t believe that I will be living there on that day, because everything just felt like it was some drama,” she said.
She applauded security personnel, including staff of the Department of State Services, with securing their release.
“The government, the DSS staff, we were rescued by them,” she said.
The 20 prospective NYSC members and another passenger were abducted on October 1, 2026, when gunmen attacked two buses along the Owerri-Onitsha Road near Umunoha in Imo State.
The victims were travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to their respective NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
They were released on October 7 following a coordinated operation involving security agencies and were taken to a DSS medical facility in Owerri for medical attention.
