Gunmen rob, rape youth corpers in Akwa Ibom

Gunmen, Tuesday night, attacked the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) lodge in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, robbing and raping female Corps members in the state.

The Nation reported that the hoodlums came on a tricycle around 1pm and carted away laptops, cell phones and cash.

Some of the Corps members, who spoke with journalists yesterday, lamented that there was no help anywhere during the attack despite the lodgers’ cry for help.

One of the Corps members identified as Emeka Emmanuel, said, “They arrived on a tricycle and immediately started operation.

“They banged on every door with a heavy iron and threatened to shoot us if we failed to cooperate.”

A female Corps member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, while fighting back tears, said her phones, laptop and cash were taken away after the hoodlums entered her room from the back door.

“You know at that period of the night, most of us females sleep naked and the suddenness of the attack caught us unprepared.

“They beamed their torch through the window and threatened to shoot if the door was not quickly opened,” she said.

“I have never heard of this anywhere in Nigeria, even in the North, where insecurity is at the highest, that Corpers could be deliberately targeted, raped and robbed at gunpoint.

“Is it because we are not from Akwa Ibom that no one could hear our shouts and come to save us?” another female colleague, lamented.

Mr. Nsikak Ibanga, a night guard at the State Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists located opposite the corpers lodge, confirmed the ordeal.

He said: “I raised the alarm by hitting the supporting pillars holding the reconstructed NUJ auditorium, and the sound reverberated across the whole area but no response”.

Another neighbour, Bassey Offiong, said: “When I heard the attack and the outcry of the Corpers, I quickly reached out to the police at Ikot Akpanabia Command, which is very close here.

“But they arrived late, after the criminals had finished and left with their tricycle,” he added.

Also, the Youth Leader of the area, Comrade Godwin Okpo, said “When I heard the incident late in the night around 1am yesterday, I moved to the place but since I was alone, there was nothing I could do,” he said.

“I have told them that once it’s midnight, they should put off their generators so we can hear what’s happening in the neighbourhoods,” he stressed.

Police spokesman Odiko Macdon said he didn’t have any information about the incident but promised to find out and get across to newsmen.

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