A National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Jennifer Elohor, has recounted her harrowing encounter with members of the Anambra State Vigilante Group, who broke into her residence, assaulted her, and forcefully took her and her colleagues away.
Elohor, who described her trauma in an interview with media personality Aprokoking published on Wednesday, stated that the incident occurred on July 13 at 5 p.m. at the lodge where she and other corps members were sleeping.
According to Elohor, she and her colleagues were inside when they heard a forceful knock on the door.
“At first, we thought it was our neighbours’ door because it’s a three-storey building with several flats. But the knock became louder and more aggressive, so I decided to check. Before I could reach the door, it was kicked open,” she said.
Elohor said how a masked man armed with a gun broke into the room without any identity or uniform.
“At first, I thought it was an armed robber until he ordered all of us to come outside. I tried to explain that we were corps members and even suggested showing our NYSC identity cards. My colleagues also presented theirs, but the men ignored us,” she recounted.
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Elohor claimed that the burglars ransacked their room, took their phones and laptops, and grew violent.
“They pushed us downstairs, almost shoving me down the staircase. They kept asking what gave me the right, as a woman, to challenge them. It was when we got outside that we saw their vehicle and discovered they were from the Anambra Vigilante Group,” she said.
Elohor further claimed that when they requested to call their lodge proprietor or NYSC officials to notify them of where they were being taken, the vigilante members became more brutal.
The agents were observed assaulting the female corps member despite her calls for assistance.
The attack, however, has sparked uproar on social media, with many Nigerians denouncing the vigilante group’s conduct and seeking justice for the victims.
Following the outrage, the Anambra State Government said that the perpetrators had been discovered, apprehended, and incarcerated. It further stated that the operatives involved in the assault had been fired.
“They beat me, tore my clothes, and even hit one of my colleagues with an iron rod for pleading on my behalf.
They forced me into their vehicle, pressing my neck, slapping me, and threatening to smash our phones if we contacted anyone,” she said.
Chronicle NG reports in a video that went viral on Tuesday that the operatives armed with guns stormed the corps members’ lodge and accused them of being internet fraudsters despite their showing their identification cards and uniforms.
