At least two commercial buses were attacked by armed kidnappers along the Onitsha–Owerri Road in Imo State on Thursday, 1 October 2026, Nigeria’s Independence Day, according to eyewitness accounts and family members circulating on social media.
An unspecified number of passengers and drivers were taken away. Other vehicles travelling the same route were also reportedly targeted.
A video shared online shows distressed relatives stating that some of those abducted are National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members. The corps members had boarded a Uko Akwa Ibom Motors bus at Samonda in Ibadan, heading to orientation camps in Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Imo and Abia states in the South-East and South-South.
One passenger who escaped the ambush filmed an abandoned commercial bus by the roadside and said: “They carried everybody, including the driver.”
A mother whose child was among the travellers told family members that her child sent a WhatsApp message reading simply “kidnapper” early on 1 October. The child’s phone has since been unreachable.
Later updates from the same source reported that kidnappers abducted 20 NYSC corps members near Umunoha community in Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State.
The exact number of people taken remains unconfirmed by official sources at the time of reporting. Security agencies have not yet issued a formal statement.
The incident adds to ongoing concerns over insecurity on major highways in the South-East.
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