Youths Must Travel, Serve Nigeria Without Fear – Obi

Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential candidate Peter Obi has said Nigeria must become a country where young people can travel, work and serve their nation without fear, as he condemned the abduction of approximately 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps members travelling to their orientation camp.

Obi, in a post on X on Sunday, described the incident as “yet another distressing indication of the worsening insecurity in our country.”

“These young Nigerians were preparing to serve their nation, but they were unable to travel safely on our roads,” Obi wrote.

“Families are increasingly burdened by the fear that their loved ones could fall victim to kidnapping.” 

Obi said protecting lives and property is the government’s foremost responsibility.

He added that insecurity cannot be treated as an ordinary occurrence.

“Protecting lives and property is the government’s foremost responsibility. We cannot continue to regard insecurity as an ordinary occurrence or act only after people’s lives have been disrupted,” he said.

“I call for the immediate and safe rescue of all the abducted corps members and the arrest of those responsible.

“Nigeria must become a country where young people can travel, work, and serve their nation without fear.”

Abduction of 20 Youth Corps Members: Insecurity Must Not Be a Norm

The abduction of approximately 20 prospective NYSC members travelling to their orientation camp is yet another distressing indication of the worsening insecurity in our country. These young Nigerians were…

— Peter Obi (@PeterObi) October 4, 2026

The corps members were abducted along the Owerri-Onitsha Expressway in Imo State while travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to various orientation camps in the South-East and South-South states.

The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu, has deployed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations, Shehu Umar Nadada, to Imo State to coordinate the rescue operation.

Meanwhile, the Imo State Commissioner of Police, Audu Bosso, disclosed on Saturday that operatives had located the suspected camp where the victims were being held but could not immediately move in because of the IED threat.

Bosso said security personnel trailed the kidnappers into the bush and deployed drones on Friday, which pinpointed the suspected location.

“Any moment, we’ll still move into the bush. Yesterday, we were in the bush; we trailed them up to a particular location,” Bosso said.

“But at that point in time, we couldn’t move in to where the coordinate showed us they are because we ran drones yesterday. And the drone actually showed us exactly their location.

“But our predicament is that with the intel we have, the camp is mined with IEDs.”