17th January, 2012
Unidentified gunmen on Monday night kidnapped two serving members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Rivers State.
It was learnt that the NYSC members, a male and a female, were abducted from the place of their primary assignment at a school in Udoga village in Etche Local Government Area of the state.
The Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Suleiman Abbah, who confirmed the incident in Port Harcourt, explained that the police in collaboration with the military went into action after receiving a distress call and were able to rescue the male youth corps member while two suspects were arrested.
The Police boss said; “Upon receiving information of the kidnap of the two corps members in Udoga village in Etche local government area of the state, in collaboration with soldiers swung into action and have been able to rescue the male corps member and have arrested two suspects.”
Abbah, who further explained that the school where the corps members were abducted is situated in a community that has been frequently enveloped in communal crisis, said that the police and the army are doing everything in their power to ensure the other female corps member is rescued.
A top official of NYSC in the state secretariat who was prodded to reveal the identity of the kidnapped corps members declined and said that the matter was still under investigation and it would unethical to reveal their names now in the media.
He stated that the secretariat of the NYSC was waiting for a briefing from the NYSC Inspector of the affected local government area.
Five corps members were abducted in that axis were kept incommunicado for about a month.
—Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt