Four-Day Ordeal Ends: 13 Kidnapped Benue Passengers Freed

Joint security teams have rescued the last 13 passengers abducted on the Makurdi–Otukpo road in Otukpo LGA, Benue State, on Wednesday, April 15, 2026.

The victims regained freedom in the early hours of Sunday, April 19, 2026. Benue State Commissioner of Police, Ifeanyi Emenari, confirmed the development.

No details of the rescue operation have been released yet.

The attack happened on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, when gunmen blocked a Benue Links state-owned bus and took several passengers. Among those abducted were young men and women traveling to Otukpo for the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.

In a statement on Saturday, April 18, 2026, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) denied that any of its candidates were victims of a “Fulani abduction.”

Recall that reports of an earlier rescue were all over social media and different news platforms. Some updates said five passengers from the same bus attack had already been freed.

Commissioner Emenari had earlier told journalists in Makurdi that 18 people, including the driver, were in the bus during the attack on April 15, 2026.

He explained that three passengers were not taken by the gunmen, while two others managed to escape. That left 13 people in captivity the same 13 now confirmed rescued on Sunday, April 19th.

Source: TVC News

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