• Harrowing stories of NYSC members kidnapped, raped, killed while serving fatherland
By Henry Umahi
It’s like a scary scene from a horror movie. Young graduates going to serve their fatherland were kidnapped by evil men from the pit of hell. About four months after, they still remain in captivity and the country moves on as if nothing happened.
Last week, some parents of the kidnapped members of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) appealed to both the Federal and Akwa Ibom State governments to help rescue their children.
On August 17, 2023, eight NYSC members and the driver of the Akwa Ibom Transport Company (AKTC) bus they were travelling in were kidnapped in Zamfara State while on their way to Sokoto State to observe the mandatory national service. Two of them, a male and a female, were later freed after ransom was paid.
One of the distraught parents, Solomon Emmanuel, said: “I feel so bad when the government, particularly security agencies say they are doing something to rescue those children. We only hear such things in the news, but we are not seeing results. The N70m those people are demanding currently is beyond us. We cannot afford that amount of money.
“So, this is the time for the government to show that they are truly doing something about rescuing our children that were sent to serve their fatherland in Sokoto State and on their way were kidnapped. That is why we decided to gather today and collectively appeal to the government for help.”
Another parent, Mrs Idongesit, said: “I felt happy when I saw other corps members travelling with my daughter. How could I have known that my daughter would not be safe travelling in AKTC? Till today I blame the AKTC for what happened to those children in Zamfara.
“We were told that the driver was told not to go through that route once it is 6pm but he didn’t listen. And after the first week the incident happened, I have not been able to talk to my child again because they collected their phones from them. It hurts when I think about the punishment and suffering those children are passing through in the bush.”
She explained that sleep has taken flight from her since the incident occurred, adding that she hardly eats. She lamented that she is languishing in agony as everyone had abandoned them, including the government that sent the children on the mission.
She said: “It’s sad and painful. We (parents) are helpless and desperate because all the people we have contacted have not given us any hope.
“We have met with even the paramount rulers to help us reach out to the governor but since then no feedback. I used other avenues like using some governor’s aides but I doubt if Governor Umo Eno saw those letters we wrote to him for help more than one month ago.
“I am telling Governor Eno, our federal and state lawmakers especially Senator Akpabio that we will not rest, we will continue to appeal to them to help bring back our children to us alive. Don’t let them die in Zamfara bush. We, the parents, are helpless. We need your urgent support because we have just a few days to pay the ransom. There is no time.”
Meanwhile, the management of the NYSC on December 7 said it had secured the release of two more female corps members from the kidnappers’ den. Four remain in the bush for about four months.
While the parents of the corps members are praying and hoping for the safe return of their children, the case of Miss Joel Grace Chalya with call-up number: KD/23A/4386, has ended. She was brutally murdered in Kaduna on October 18, 2023.
After participating in morning devotion with fellow corps members at Barnawa GRA in Kaduna, where she resided, Chalya went out for a jog when she was attacked and fatally stabbed by unidentified hoodlums. The attackers also went away with her phone.
In a statement, Eddy Megwa, NYSC’s Director of Press and Public Relations, disclosed: “A good Samaritan alerted her colleagues about the tragic incident. The NYSC management immediately rushed the injured corps member to Harmony Hospital Limited in Barnawa, Kaduna for urgent medical attention. Unfortunately, despite the medical team’s best efforts, she passed on.
“Our hearts are heavy with the loss of one of our own. This is a painful reminder that our corps members, who are our children, our sisters and brothers, must be protected by all Nigerians.”
Born on September 28, 1999, Chalya was the only child of her parents. Her father died four years ago and her mother, Mrs Mankat Joel, a retired nurse, singlehandedly trained her.
When reporters visited the Joels in Zaramaganda area of Jos South, Plateau State, Chalya’s mother painted a pathetic picture. She was looking lost, and could barely speak audibly. Apparently, her world had crumbled.
In September 2023, gunmen kidnapped a member of the NYSC, Maryjane Onoriode, deployed to Osun State, in Eku, Ethiope East Local Council of Delta State. The state police command confirmed the development even as the kidnappers demanded N5 million ransom.
On June 8, 2023, 25-year-old Gideon Bitrus Gijuwa, a corps member serving in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, was stabbed to death at Mararaba, a border town between the FCT and Nasarawa State, by unknown persons.
It was gathered that Gideon, a graduate of Geology of the Adamawa State University (ADSU), had gone to collect a waybill when the killers attacked him. The Adamawa State indigene was rushed to Mararaba Hospital, where he was confirmed dead by doctors on duty.
Reacting to the news of Gideon’s death, the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, vowed to follow up the matter through the FCT Command.
He said: “This is sad. I will follow up with the FCT command. May his soul rest in peace.”
Indeed, many corps members have paid the supreme price while serving their country. Some have been raped and murdered. Some have been used for rituals. Others have been abducted and maimed. It is the same ugly story all over the country.
In July 2022, the NYSC confirmed the murder of a corps member, Eunice Igweike. She was killed while travelling to the NYSC orientation camp in Sagamu, Ogun State.
Igweike, an indigene of Ohafia, Abia State and 2022 Batch B corps member, graduated from the Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra State.
The NYSC Director (Press and Public Relations), Eddy Megwa, confirmed her death. He stated: “To put the issues raised in proper perspective, the scheme indeed lost a prospective corps member by name, Miss Eunice Chioma Igweike, who set out for NYSC permanent orientation camp, Sagamu, Ogun State, having been deployed to the state for the national service under the 2022 Batch B service year.
“A call by her elder brother to the NYSC on July 20, 2022 reporting that he had not been able to reach her sister on phone since her departure to NYSC Ogun camp from Aba, Abia State, prompted the scheme to contact the security agencies to know her whereabouts. Sadly, on Thursday, July 21 2022, her remains which were intact, and not mutilated as reported in the media, were recovered along Sagamu-Imota Road and deposited in the morgue.
“The NYSC feels highly diminished by the death of Eunice Chioma Igweike, a promising young Nigerian that would have been a great ambassador of her family, contributing her quota to nation building. The NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Mohammed Fadah, management and the entire members of NYSC family commiserate with Igweike Family on the demise of the young lady.”
The statement also extended condolences to the Ohafia community, the government and people of Abia State over the death of the corps member.
Barely four days after 2019 Batch ‘A’ corps members reported for their three-week orientation course at the Wailo camp of the NYSC in Ganjuwa Local Government Area of Bauchi State, a female corps member, Magdalene Yohanna, collapsed at the camp and later died few minutes after she was rushed to Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) Bauchi. She was reported to have been compelled to participate in a task even after complaining of ill-health. And the lady died.
Same year, a corps member was raped and murdered in Imo State just days to her passing out. The 27-year-old Lillian Mgbanwa whose dream was to become a chartered accountant was allegedly murdered by one Chukwuemeka Eze.
An Accountancy graduate of Nasarawa Polytechnic, Lillian Mgbanwa was serving at St Gregory Missionary Secondary School, Amiri, Oru-East LGA, Imo State.
Parading the suspect, the police said: “Here is Chukwuemeka Eze, who murdered a youth corps member, Lillian Mgbanwa, after raping her.”
In 2015, the police in Imo State embarked on massive arrest of community members of Ezuhu, Umuhu, Okwuato Community in Aboh Mbaise, following the killing of a corps member serving in that community, Hope Akpan.
Akpan, who hailed from Cross River State, until his death, was serving in one of the schools in the community before his mutilated lifeless body was said to have been found in his room.
Confirming the story, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Andrew Enwerem, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said: “Yes, we have arrested some people over the ugly incident. The killing of a national figure like that cannot be swept under the carpet. We have embarked on investigations. I cannot give you accurate figures of those arrested now.”
It was gathered that the assailants left Akpan in a pool of his own blood. His broken door was discovered as his neighbours arrived, finding his legs tied to a wooden object after he was murdered.
In 2012, 24-year-old Augusta Chizoba Ndukwu of Umufu-Amaimo, Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State was gruesomely murdered by unknown persons at Upper Iweka area of Onitsha, Anambra State. Augusta, who had survived a series of hostilities and bombings by the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram, in Adamawa State, where she served, painfully met her untimely death in a place she felt was her home.
Saturday Sun gathered that Augusta, a graduate of Banking and Finance from the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Imo State, was found lying in the pool of her own blood at the notorious fly-over at Upper Iweka on September 12, 2012.
In 2011, nine corps members were killed by a mob in Bauchi after the presidential election in April. The nine corps members were Adewumi Seun (Ekiti), Teidi Tosin (Kogi), Adowei Elliot (Bayelsa), Okpokiri Obinna (Abia), Gbenjo Ayotunde (Osun), Ukeoma Chibuzor (Imo), Nwazema Chukwuonyerem (Imo), Adeniji Jehleel (Osun) and Akonyi Sule (Kogi).
Many corps members have also died in accidents. For example, in June 2023, the Cross River State Coordinator of the NYSC, Andrew Zemoh, confirmed the death of five corps members in an accident.
They were on their way to Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, their place of primary assignment, when the incident happened.
Some parents are, therefore, arguing that the scheme should be scrapped if the security of corps members cannot be guaranteed by government. Others are clamouring for the scheme to be reformed to protect the corps members from becoming corpses while serving their fatherland.