Twenty Nigerian Graduates Freed Following Highway Abduction in Southeast

Security forces, including police and military units, executed intelligence-driven operations across forest areas and suspected hideouts to secure the release of the group, though officials have not disclosed whether a ransom was paid or if any suspects have been apprehended.

The victims were participants in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), the mandatory one-year national service programme for university graduates who are deployed to regions outside their home states.

Gunmen intercepted two buses transporting the graduates along a major highway connecting Ibadan in Oyo State to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom States.

The abduction has renewed alarm over the persistent threat of kidnapping along roadways in the South-East geopolitical zone.

Prior to their release, the father of one abductee, Omotosho Adewale, informed the BBC that the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of 50 million naira (approximately $37,680), a sum he said was far beyond his means. “There is no peace of mind. I have not eaten in three days,” he said, visibly distressed.

Kidnapping for ransom remains a critical security challenge in Nigeria, perpetrated by criminal gangs and armed groups. Authorities have yet to release details regarding the identity of the perpetrators behind this latest incident.

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