A prospective National Youth Service Corps member 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 captors.
The rescued NYSC victim’s account, given in a BBC interview published on Monday, provides the most detailed account yet of the seven-day ordeal that ended when security agencies secured the release of 20 prospective corps members and another passenger.
THE ABDUCTION
The 20 prospective corps 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.
The survivor said their bus had departed at about 9am and made several stops along the journey. The driver eventually stopped at a location because the next stretch of the journey was considered dangerous, and passengers were advised to rest before proceeding.
She said she contacted her family to inform them that they would spend the night at a public place before going to sleep. However, she said she woke up to find herself in the hands of the kidnappers, with no clear understanding 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 BEATINGS
The survivor said the abductors monitored their phone calls to family members and beat those whose conversations displeased them, using weapons and their bare hands.
“We are given a phone to call our family, and if any family say 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, used the gun, wood. Sometimes they use their hands to punch them, mostly the guys”.
THE SURVIVAL CONDITIONS
The survivor said 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”.
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL TOLL
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 added that she had not expected to survive the ordeal. “I don’t believe that I will be living there on that day, because everything just felt like it was some drama,” she said .
THE RESCUE
She credited 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 victims regained their freedom on October 7 following a coordinated operation involving security agencies and were taken to a DSS medical facility in Owerri for medical attention.
WHY IT MATTERS
The survivor’s account provides a human dimension to a story that has been dominated by security briefings and political statements.
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It describes the physical and psychological brutality of kidnapping, the beatings, the deprivation, the terror of not knowing whether you will live or die.It also underscores the trauma that rescued victims carry long after their release.
The 20 corps members are free, but the scars of their seven days in the forest will not heal quickly. ValidViewNetwork reports that the rescued corps members have been offered postings to South-West states.
