NYSC: time to rest it (concluding part)
By Soney Antai, serial award-winning columnist
In line with our last week’s promise, we here present confirmed cases of the huge troubles the scheme has brought upon some of its participants. You know what these mean for the families, friends and acquaintances of the victims. The troubling parts are that in these instances, the corps members were not at fault, and more cutting, the authorities didn’t do much to ameliorate the troubles.
The 2011 post-election violence
This remains the deadliest period for corps members in the annals of the scheme and Nigeria. Following the announcement of presidential results, several northern states took matters into their hands and started rioting:
In Bauchi State, at least 10 corps members were brutally murdered by mobs. Many of these youngsters were dragged out of their lodges or attacked while seeking refuge at police stations.
What about the murderers and their sponsors? They walked away and have not been known to be brought before the law. To think that police stations could not protect them isn’t only sickening, but utterly provocative. What kind of country would allow such beastly brutality on its citizens without consequences?
Suleja, Niger State: Some persons detonated a bomb at the INEC office in Suleja on the eve of the National Assembly elections, resulting in the killing of several people, including nine corps members. The victims were children the parents invested so much in, and they were killed probably by unkempt, futureless street urchins who were manipulated by religious and or political vipers. Again, what happened to the bombers? Don’t lie to me about unity; it’s not there, and will remain a chimera until we change our mind and start thinking and living life humans.
Minna, Niger State: While the bomb was killing at the INEC office, a jihadi mob heartlessly locked approximately 50 Corps members inside the Nigerian Christian Corpers Fellowship (NCCF) building and set it on fire. While most managed to escape, losing all their belongings and sustaining injuries, others were roasted. What did the Christian corps members do to attract such insane viciousness? They were not gladiators in the polls, but the jihadists we pretend are only misguided youths, went after those Christian youngsters and wanted them all roasted alive. What about the murderers and their sponsors? They walked away and have not been known to be brought before the law. A country with such coldness doesn’t deserve to be served by anyone with working brains.
During the 2011 riots, at least 20 corps members were initially reported missing in Bauchi alone. While many were later rescued by the police, the trauma led to the relocation of corps members from the state. What did government do to their murderers and traumatisers?
2. The 2019 general elections:
Rivers State: A corps member, Ibisaki Amachree, while returning from election duty in Degema LGA, was killed by a stray bullet during a shootout between rival political groups. What did government do to her murderer. Nothing!
Oyo State: A corps member, Ibrahim Hamza, was killed in Ibadan during the governorship election when political thugs opened fire near a polling unit. What did he do to deserve being killed by people who were clearly hired by politicians?
3. The 2023 general elections
The elections witnessed several incidents of kidnap and physical assaults, often fueled by tensions over the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
Delta State attack: In March 2023, gunmen in military uniforms shot at a vehicle conveying INEC ad-hoc staff (including corps members) along Umuaja Road. One INEC staffer, Defeware Okemute, was killed, while several corps members sustained multiple gunshot wounds.
Hostage taking in Warri: A disgruntled electorate held three corps members hostage in a Warri community because the BVAS machine assigned to them malfunctioned, preventing voters from being accredited.
Abuja (Lugbe) assault: A mob almost lynched a corps member for being suspected of thumb-printing ballot papers. The NYSC explained that he was mistaken for another person andlater cleared him, stating that he was actually trying to protect polling items.
4. Kidnappings (en route or during duty)
Many corps members have been kidnapped during transit to camps, or during election period volatility.
Zamfara (2023): Eight prospective corps members were kidnapped in August 2023 while travelling to their orientation camp. The last of the victims, Solomon Daniel Bassey, was only rescued in August 2024 – having spent one whole year in captivity. The NYSC deflected blame and refused any responsibility blaming the victims for travelling at night. They wrongly believed that if those corps members from Akwa Ibom State had travelled by daytime, they wouldn’t have been kidnapped. But the truth is that many kidnappings incidents take place in broad day light.
As school debaters are wont to say, I submit that with these few points of mine, I have justified why the NYSC should be rested. It has failed to meet its primary goal of uniting Nigerians and been the background for the violent killing of many of our youngsters. We cannot have unity so long as we keep pussyfooting on the issue of justice for victims of violent crimes.