CORP MEMBERS KIDNAPPED

IN FCT (ABUJA) The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, after a meeting, weekend, refused to pay ransom for the release of five corps members kidnapped in Rivers State.

According to Vanguard the kidnappers had reportedly demanded N100 million to release the corps members.
The meeting, chaired by the Director General of NYSC, Brigadier-General Maharazu Tsiga to seek ways of dealing with the crisis, however, resolved to appeal to the kidnappers to release the corps members.
 
Also, it has emerged that Ekiti State government had taken steps to ensure the posting out of Bauchi State of the state indigenes, who are  corps members.
According to Vanguard, the source confided in Vanguard that members in attendance at the meeting were unanimous that paying ransom might make the kidnap of corps members  attractive, given their spread and presence  in every corner of the country.
The source who did not want his name in print, said:   “The meeting chaired by the DG agreed on the need to secure the release of the kidnapped corps members by other means, other than paying ransom. The argument is that if ransom is paid now, what becomes of the fate of corps members  posted to remote places without security.
  “It simply means that any criminal gang can seize hapless corps members  and hold them for ransom to make  easy money. We cannot afford to expose these young men and women serving the nation to this kind of danger.”
   The meeting, it was learnt, also sympathized with parents of the kidnapped corps members , but agreed without any objection to appeal to the conscience of the kidnappers.
 It was further learnt that the meeting took notice of  moves by Ekiti State government to ensure that all corps members who are indigenes of the state, posted to Bauchi, were immediately deployed to other states outside the North.
No fewer than seven  corps members  from Ekiti State lost their lives in the post-election violence that erupted in some parts of the country, making Ekiti State one with the  highest number of casualties..
The effort to ensure the posting out of Bauchi State new corps members from Ekiti State, the meeting was informed, was spearheaded by the State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka.