A prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) 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 captive in a forest.
The victim, who spoke in an interview with the BBC, described the harsh conditions they endured following the abduction of 20 prospective corps members and another passenger travelling to their NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
She said their captors monitored phone calls made to family members and beat victims whenever 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.”
Recounting how the abduction occurred, the victim said their bus departed at about 9am and made several stops along the journey.
She explained that the driver eventually stopped at a location because the next stretch of the journey was considered dangerous. The passengers were reportedly advised to rest before continuing.
According to her, she contacted her family to explain 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, without understanding how she and the other passengers 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 said their captors later took them deeper into the forest, where they were given little food and dirty water to survive.
“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 also described the psychological trauma of the experience, saying she struggled to understand 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, 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 credited security personnel, including operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), with securing their release.
“The government, the DSS staff, we were rescued by them,” she said.
The 20 prospective corps members and another passenger were abducted on October 1, 2026, when gunmen reportedly 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 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.
