An empty street in the Esinle community, where pupils and teachers were abducted in a large-scale school attack, in Oyo State, Nigeria, June 2, 2026. Image @ REUTERS/Sodiq Adelakun/File Photo
Nearly two months after gunmen attacked three schools in southwestern Nigeria, all 39 students and six teachers abducted in Oyo State’s Oriire district have been rescued, bringing a 56-day ordeal to an end.
The presidency announced on Friday that the victims were freed during a coordinated operation involving the military, police, the Department of State Services (DSS) and other security agencies. Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga said eight members of the kidnapping gang were arrested and are now in custody.
He stressed that no ransom, prisoner swap or other concession was made to secure the victims’ release. The terrorist kingpin whose freedom the kidnappers demanded remains in custody and is still facing prosecution on criminal charges.
The mass abduction took place on May 15, when armed men launched coordinated attacks on Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Community Grammar School and L.A. Primary School in the Yawota and Ahoro-Esiele communities.
The Christian Association of Nigeria in Oyo State said 46 people were kidnapped, most of them children between the ages of two and 16. Two teachers, Michael Olugbade Oyedokun and Esiyan Adegboye, were killed during the assault.
President Bola Tinubu welcomed the rescue and vowed that his administration “will get justice for these children and their teachers,” as well as for the family of the teacher “who the terrorists gruesomely murdered.”
Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde described the rescue as “such a big relief for all of us,” saying he was “overjoyed and can hardly say much.”
New details have also emerged about how security forces carried out the operation. According to Premium Times, the kidnappers had hidden the hostages inside Old Oyo National Park. Security personnel reportedly cut off food supplies to the camp to increase pressure on the group before the rescue.
Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters said the attackers were linked to a faction of Boko Haram that had been driven from its former strongholds. Defence Minister Christopher Musa said the group kidnapped the children to force the government to release jailed terrorist commanders and threatened to kill the captives if troops tried to rescue them.
The kidnappings sparked widespread outrage across Oyo State. The Nigeria Union of Teachers launched a month-long strike to demand the victims’ release, while civil society groups, including the Take-It-Back Movement, organised protests in Ibadan calling for faster government action.
Governor Makinde warned that the attack points to a troubling shift in Nigeria’s security landscape. He argued that sustained military operations against armed groups in the northwest are pushing terrorists and bandits farther south, where school kidnappings have historically been far less common.
Mass abductions remain one of Nigeria’s biggest security challenges. Armed groups continue to target students, travellers and rural communities, exploiting weak security and porous borders to demand money or other payments. While school kidnappings have become a recurring threat in parts of northern Nigeria, attacks of this scale have been rare in the country’s southwest.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah