Just In: Troops Rescue Abducted Benue Bus Passengers
Troops of the Nigerian Army have rescued 13 passengers who were abducted from a Benue Links commercial bus along the Makurdi–Otukpo road on Wednesday.
According to reports by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the victims were found in the early hours of Sunday during a search-and-rescue operation in a forest located in Okete Ward, Ohimini Local Government Area of Benue State.
The report stated that three of the 17 passengers initially kidnapped had earlier escaped and reunited safely with their families, while efforts are still ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims.
The rescued passengers were immediately taken to the General Hospital in Otukpo, where they are receiving treatment for injuries sustained during their captivity.
Earlier reports had claimed that some of those abducted were students travelling for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), with eight of them said to be candidates preparing for the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination.
However, both the Benue State Police Command and JAMB have denied the claims.
Udeme Edet, spokesperson for the Benue police command, said in a statement on Friday that reports identifying the victims as UTME candidates were “misinformation and incorrect.”
Similarly, Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s Public Communications Adviser, said in a statement on Saturday that the passengers had travelled to Makurdi to participate in an ongoing police recruitment exercise and were returning to Otukpo when the incident occurred.