Abducted NYSC Members Share Survival Stories: “We Drank Flood Water and Ate Grass”

Three out of the eight National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members from Akwa Ibom State, who were abducted in Zamfara State while en route for their mandatory national service, have shared chilling details of their time in captivity. The freed corps members, who were kidnapped by gunmen on August 17, 2023, endured anywhere from two months to a full year in the kidnappers’ den before their eventual rescue.

In a detailed interview facilitated by the Founder of Open Forum Care for Humanity Foundation, Matthew Koffi Okono, the three survivors — one female and two males — described the extreme conditions they faced, including torture, near-starvation, and exposure to wild animals.

The corps members, traveling along Gusau Road in Zamfara State, fell into the hands of armed kidnappers who had set up a roadblock disguised as a checkpoint. According to one of the victims, their vehicle was forced to stop due to bad road conditions, and the kidnappers, dressed in a mixture of kaftans and military uniforms, ambushed them.

“They took us into the bush at gunpoint,” one of the victims recounted, explaining how three people managed to escape, but the rest were stripped of their belongings and led into a forest.

The abductees were held in an open space with no proper shelter. “We had to sleep on rice sacks on the ground, and when it rained, we would huddle under trees,” one survivor said. They were constantly surrounded by wildlife, including snakes, scorpions, and bush dogs, which added to their terror. The captors would occasionally fire shots into the air to scare off the wild animals.

The conditions in captivity were brutal. One of the abductees, Solomon, who spent a full year in captivity, described how he was singled out for being “stubborn” and was subjected to harsher treatment. He was beaten, forced to eat grass, and drink floodwater. “For three weeks, there was no food or water. I was later chained and transported to Kaduna, where I spent months in isolation,” Solomon revealed, showing scars from the beatings he endured.

For the female corps member, the experience was equally horrifying. She spent two months in captivity, during which time she suffered illness from lack of food and clean water. “We drank flood water when it rained, and we were kept in a cramped space. As a woman, even during my period, I had no means to clean up,” she recalled.

The eventual rescue came through the efforts of the Nigerian military. Solomon, who was held the longest, was rescued in Kaduna on August 22, 2024, over a year after his abduction. “I thank the military, President Bola Tinubu, the NYSC Director-General, Governor Umo Eno, and everyone involved in our rescue,” he said.

The other two survivors were released at different times, with the female corps member regaining her freedom in October 2023. Upon their release, the government and the NYSC offered the abductees the option to either restart or continue their service year, and all chose to continue. The NYSC also paid them their outstanding allowances.

Despite their newfound freedom, the former captives are still struggling with the trauma of their ordeal. They have called on both the federal and Akwa Ibom State governments to assist them in securing employment. “After suffering so much in captivity, it would be heartbreaking to remain jobless. We plead for compassionate consideration in granting us civil service jobs or placements in rewarding establishments,” they said.