A civic group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked President Bola Tinubu to personally intervene and end the four months ordeal in the hands of daredevil terrorists of eight youth corps members kidnapped in Zamfara State.
SaharaReporters reported on August 23, 2023, that eight corps members had been kidnapped by suspected terrorists on their way to camp in Zamfara State on Monday, August 21.
On September 5, it was reported that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) blamed the eight corps members who were abducted in August while travelling to Sokoto State for their primary assignment for their plight.
The corps members were travelling in an Akwa Ibom Transport Company (AKTC) bus from Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, to Sokoto State, for the one-year mandatory national service, when their vehicle was intercepted by the hoodlums.
Although there were reportedly 11 corps members and the driver in the bus, three of the corps members escaped during the attack.
Commenting on the prolonged stay of the corps members at the terrorists’ den, HURIWA, in a release, described the situation as unfortunate and blamed the government for their non-concerned attitude towards the situation.
The rights group said, “It is as if these youths who were going for the national services to Nigeria have simply been abandoned by the Nigerian state. This crude reality will inevitably shrink the passion amongst young Nigerians to render altruistic service to Nigeria since it is now evidently conspicuous that the kidnapped “corpers” are abandoned by the government to their cruel fate.”
The group, therefore pleaded with the president to intervene and ensure the release of these corps members just as the rights group commended the NYSC for suspending the posting of corps members to Zamfara State as a result of the abduction.