The Defence Headquarters on Thursday blamed last Friday’s abductions at three schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State on dislodged members of Jama’atu Ahlis-Sunna Lidda’Awati Wal-Jihad, even as families waited eight days for word on the missing pupils and teachers. The military said the group had been pushed out of other parts of the country by intense operations and had moved into the South-west.
That assessment put a hard edge on a case that has gripped Ogbomoso and surrounding communities since terrorists stormed schools in Yawota and Ahoro-Esinle, taking at least 45 people, including pupils and teachers. Governor Seyi Makinde later said 39 pupils and seven teachers were kidnapped and that one of the teachers was killed in captivity. The teacher was Michael Oyedokun.
The governor also said a joint rescue team ran into explosives planted by the attackers, a sign that the operation was more than a hurried raid. Six suspects have since been arrested in connection with the attack, according to Makinde, who said the pressure on terrorists in the North-West could drive more of them southward unless states are ready to repel or neutralise them.
The schools hit were Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota, Community Grammar School, and L.A. Primary School, Esiele. One of the teachers killed in the assault was Adesiyan Adegboye. The Defence Headquarters rejected the idea that the kidnapping proved an entrenched terrorist structure in the South-west, but the details from the ground pointed to a region now forced to confront the same fear long associated with other parts of the country.
Oyo’s education ministry responded by suspending excursions, field trips, sports competitions and any other activity that requires students to leave school premises, effective immediately and subject to review once the security situation improves. Teachers and pupils in Ogbomoso and neighbouring communities had already begun abandoning classrooms after the abductions, while some parents pulled their children out of school altogether.
Suspected terrorists later opened communication channels with the state government and said they only wanted to speak to the governor and nobody else, according to a source. Abayomi Fagbenro declined to provide details, saying: “I can’t give any information at the moment.” The abductions, first reported eight days ago, have now become both a security crisis and a test of whether the state can secure a release without another death.
For Oyo, the answer is no longer abstract. The threat is real, the schools are empty, and the next move belongs to the captors as much as the authorities.
