By our reporter 20.10.2026
Five suspects who allegedly plotted and kidnapped 20 prospective National Youth Services Corps members along the Owerri-Onitsha highway have appeared in court.
The suspects were arraigned by the Department of State Services (DSS) at a High Court sitting in Owerri, the Imo State capital on Tuesday. The suspects include Mohammed Ali, Usman Aliyu, Babangida Aliyu, Ibrahim Jiji and Aminu Haliru.
According to the DSS the men were arrested by the police between October 10-14 following operations in Rivers and Abia States.
“Three of them, Usman Aliyu, twenty-five, also known as Chonge; 21-year-old Babangida Aliyu, and 23-year-old Mohammed Ali aka Smallie Pepper, are specifically charged with the kidnapping of the prospective corps members,” said the DSS in a statement.
“They were charged with conspiracy to commit hostage-taking punishable under Section 6 of the Imo State Prohibition of Hostage Taking and Related Offences Law No. 4 of 2009.
“The defendants were accused of unlawfully possessing three AK-47 rifles, four magazines, a pistol and eighty-one rounds of live ammunition.”
The kidnapping occurred at about 6.30am October 1 as the intending youth corpers traveling in two passengers’ buses were hijacked by gunmen. They were travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State to NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom.
On October 7 a joint security team rescued the NYSC members even as some of the parents claimed they had paid N5m and N6m ransom.
NYSC kidnap suspects...heading to court.