Mother Speaks on NYSC-bound Daughter’s Last Moment Before Bandits Took Her Into Forest

A mother of twin daughters, both of whom are about to embark on the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program, has recounted the harrowing ordeal of her daughter who was abducted in Imo State on Thursday. The incident unfolded when gunmen attacked two commercial buses on the Owerri-Onitsha Expressway in Mbaitoli Local Government Area, abducting several travelers, including NYSC members heading to orientation camps.

Among those who vanished was Kehinde, a twin daughter who had embarked on the journey from Samonda in Ibadan with other corps members at around 9 a.m. on Wednesday, spending the night in Imo State before resuming the trip early Thursday. Kehinde's mother reached out to her family via WhatsApp shortly after 6 a.m. on Thursday, sending a message to alert them of her daughter's abduction and making an unsuccessful attempt to contact her.

The family later received a video showing the vehicle, but Kehinde's phone had become unreachable, and no one knew her exact whereabouts. She urgently appealed for assistance, stating, "I only have the two of them." According to eyewitnesses, the attackers intercepted the buses, robbed the passengers of their belongings before leading them into the nearby bush.

The buses had been traveling from the Lagos direction towards Anambra when they came under attack, likely due to the slow-moving traffic providing the attackers with a chance to strike. One of the buses, identified as belonging to Uko Akwa Ibom Motors with the number Uko/133, was among the two vehicles targeted in the attack.