Many passengers are reportedly abducted after gunmen attacked two 18-seater buses on the Owerri-Onitsha expressway in the early hours of Thursday.
According to a viral video circulated on X, the passengers were travelling from Lagos to Anambra when the attackers intercepted the buses and robbed them around 5:30am.
In the clip, an eyewitness said the gunmen robbed the passengers before taking them into the bush.
“Today 1st of October, armed Fulani gvnmen att@cked, r0bbed and k!dnapp£d passengers travelling from Lagos at the Owerri road to Anambra expressway. They also abducted several passengers inside 2 full buses”
— Oyindamola🙄 (@dammiedammie35) October 1, 2026
- Eyewitness says 💔💔 pic.twitter.com/BtDz6PRdA1
“Good morning, my fellow Nigerians. I am reporting from the Owerri-Onitsha Road. This happened this morning. Fulani herdsmen and bandits robbed two vehicles coming from Lagos. They took all the passengers into the bush,” the eyewitness said.
“The police came this morning, and the army has already entered the bush to see if they can rescue the victims. They kidnapped all the passengers in the two 18-seater buses.”
He urged people to contact their loved ones to check if they were safe.
“I don’t know what is going on in this South-East. They robbed all the passengers and thereafter took them into the bush. I feel bad. This thing can happen to anyone,” the eyewitness added.
In the video, several youths gathered at the scene as the two buses lay empty on the road. Vehicles and trucks were also seen lined up behind the barricade.
One of the buses bears the inscription “Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nig. Ltd” with the number Uko/133.
In another viral video posted by Agidigbo FM Ibadan, a woman wearing a hijab appealed for help, claiming that her twin daughter, a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, was among those abducted.
The woman said her daughter left Samonda in Ibadan for Anambra around 9am on Wednesday with other corps members.
She said the daughter contacted their family group shortly after 6am on Thursday, sending a message which read “kidnapper” and placing a missed call before her phone became unreachable.
According to the woman, the corps members had spent the night somewhere in Imo before continuing their journey around 4:30am.
She said people at the scene later sent the family a video of the vehicle, adding that all the passengers, including the drivers, were reportedly taken into the bush.
The woman said the group was travelling in three vehicles, but only one escaped while passengers in the other two were abducted.
“Since past 6am, I have not been able to hear from my child, and we couldn’t get her exact location anymore. Please, federal government, help us. I only have the two of them,” she said.
She identified the missing daughter as Kehinde and said her twin sister, Taiwo, had already arrived in Enugu for her NYSC camp.
As of the time of filing this report, the Imo state police command had yet to issue an official statement on the incident.
Henry Okoye, spokesperson for the command, was also yet to respond to calls and a text messages as of the time of this report.