The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on Thursday dismissed circulating reports claiming that prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members in Gombe State were involved in a deadly road accident.
According to local sources, the NYSC orientation camp in Gombe is currently open, with prospective corps members scheduled to be officially sworn in on Friday.
A viral social media post alleged that the crash killed 16 people, with two others critically injured and rushed to an unnamed hospital.
However, verification by journalists, including inquiries with the relevant authorities, found the claims to be false.
FRSC Public Relations Officer, Janet Kassa, said:
“I have checked across units and commands—there is no indication that this happened in Gombe or anywhere nearby. This appears to be a post designed to create panic and attract attention.”
She added that any new credible information would be communicated immediately, but for now, the report should be disregarded.
Similarly, DSP Buhari Abdullahi, Public Relations Officer of the Gombe State Police Command, confirmed there was no evidence of a crash in the state.
“We have been investigating since this morning, and so far there is nothing to substantiate the claims. The post did not even provide a hospital name or proper location,” he said.
The NYSC’s Public Relations Officer in Gombe, Jennifer Laha, also dismissed the circulating images as suspicious, suggesting they may have been AI-generated.
“Based on the images and spelling errors, it looks artificial. Also, NYSC does not transport prospective corps members in buses to orientation camps,” Laha explained.
This comes after a previous incident in January 2025, when a prospective corps member was killed in a road accident in Ebonyi State while traveling in a 14-seater bus with 12 other members.
Authorities continue to urge the public to verify news before sharing it online to prevent the spread of false information.
