Twenty prospective National Youth Service Corps members abducted along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Imo State have regained their freedom six days after gunmen seized them.
The victims, travelling from Oyo State to orientation camps in the South-East and South-South, are receiving treatment at the Department of State Services Hospital in Owerri.
NYSC Director-General Brigadier-General Olakunle Oluseye Nafiu visited the hospital on Wednesday to check on their condition.
He was accompanied by the Imo State Commissioner of Police, the Director of the DSS and the Commander of the 34 Artillery Brigade.
The DG also addressed the freed corps members.
The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, announced the release in a statement issued by his media aide, Adeola Oloko.
The monarch said Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma informed him of the development in a telephone call around 5pm on Wednesday.
The graduates left Ibadan on Thursday, October 1, when gunmen attacked their two buses near Umunoha in Mbaitoli Local Government Area at about 6:30am.
Police spokesperson DSP Henry Okoye confirmed the incident stating that the buses were bound for Uyo in Akwa Ibom and Bende in Abia.
Details of how the victims were freed have not been made public, and no arrests have been confirmed.
Families of the victims had spent anxious days since the attack.
One mother said she lost contact with her child around 4:30am on the day of the incident and pleaded with the government and security agencies for help.
As the search intensified, Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu deployed Deputy Inspector-General in charge of Operations Shehu Umar Nadada and two commissioners of police to Imo State to boost the rescue effort.
