Five People Charged in Connection with Kidnapping of 20 NYSC Members in Imo

The State Security Services (SSS) on Tuesday charged three people linked to the kidnapping of 20 National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members. This incident happened on 1 October in Imo State.

The SSS also charged two others for the kidnapping of four more people in the state. This occurred three days after the NYSC members were taken.

The five accused appeared in the Imo State High Court, Oru Judicial Division, Mgbidi. They face charges of abduction, conspiracy, hostage-taking, and illegal possession of firearms.

Three of them, identified as Usman Aliyu, 25, known as Chonge; Babangida Aliyu, 21; and Mohammed Ali, 23, also called Smallie Pepper, face three serious charges. These include abduction and hostage-taking, collecting a ransom of N48 million and dollars, and illegal possession of firearms.

The other two were charged with conspiracy and hostage-taking. These charges fall under Section six of the Imo State Prohibition of Hostage Taking and Related Offences Law No. 4 of 2009.

The SSS prosecutors told the court that the three accused and others who are still on the run took the NYSC members on the Owerri, Mgbidi, Onitsha Expressway on 1 October.

According to the prosecutors, the NYSC members were traveling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states when they were kidnapped.

A charge sheet seen by PREMIUM TIMES shows that the defendants are accused of having three AK-47 rifles, four magazines, a pistol, and eighty-one rounds of live ammunition.

The three defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges of abduction and hostage-taking, collecting ransom of N48 million and dollars, and illegal possession of firearms.

In another case, two defendants were accused of kidnapping four people near Owerri and Mgbidi on 4 October.

These two are Aminu Haliru, 27, and Tange Ibrahim, 20, who is commonly called Jijji.

The SSS prosecutors said that Haliru and Ibrahim, along with others still at large, allegedly collected N8 million to release the four victims.

They also face charges for illegal possession of one AK-47 rifle and a pump-action gun.

The prosecution mentioned that N1.8 million was recovered from the defendants in this second case.

An SSS investigator and the victims are listed as witnesses in both cases.

All five defendants pleaded not guilty when the charges were read, according to Vanguard newspaper.

After they pleaded not guilty, state counsel Ekezie Nwauzo applied for the defendants to be kept in prison.

The trial judge, Emeka Orafu, decided that the defendants should be held at the SSS facility.

The judge then set the hearing dates for 22, 27, 28, and 29 October.

Nnaemeka Adipuo represented the first and second defendants in the case involving the abduction of the NYSC members. Paschal Ofoma represented the third defendant.

Earlier reports from PREMIUM TIMES noted that the 20 NYSC members were released on 7 October, exactly one week after their abduction.

This was after a joint operation by security forces, including the SSS, military, and police in Imo State.