Oyo kidnap saga: DHQ’s needless political correctness
By Taiwo Adisa, PhD
(Published by the Sunday Tribune, May 24, 2026)
Discussions have been tempered, while activities are being ruled by sober moods and sombre moments since the news broke on May 15, about the abduction of no fewer than 25 students and seven teachers from their schools in Ahoro-Esinele community in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State. If you’ve ever heard our elders say some things that put you to shame even more than being accused of robbery, this is one of such incidents. So, my native Ogbomosoland is not spared from the rampaging and mindless bloodletting that is making Nigeria its footstool. It is shameful that even as adults, we hear of these crimes and are compelled by reality to wait on the government. The sadness gets a notch higher when the news of the killing of the mathematics teacher, Michael Oyedokun, hits the airwaves. It caused more than a little rebellion in the tummy, raising numerous unanswered questions. Those questions only added to the ones that agitated the minds as I watched the videos of the women who were made to beg the government to secure their release from the bandits. One of the women, with a two-year-old strapped to her back, yelled for mercy as she spoke to the terrorists’ camera in trepidation. Egbawa ooo…she shouted as she called attention to the danger at hand. Indeed, danger is in the air, on the land, and beneath the soil. Characters with their hearts behind their backs have taken over parts of the land, inflicting pain and anguish.
In the midst of all that, we saw the release of the usual statements. The Presidency ordered the security agencies to fish out the perpetrators; the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tunji Disu visited the troubled local government; the state government has been taking some actions to showcase its relentlessness about the sad saga; and the intelligence networks have been silently busy scouring through the rubble of an unwanted occurrence.
As we were all praying that the kidnapped children, women, and men regain their freedom soonest, the Defence Headquarters, Abuja, added its voice to the unfolding scenario. It was an attempt to calm the populace and assure the South-West people that they are still safe, despite the repeated attacks on parts of the region in recent weeks. In the statement, which came a day after the kidnapped mathematics teacher was allegedly beheaded by the terrorists as shown in a viral video, the military high command did not, in any real sense, douse the tense situation that has engulfed everyone. The Defence Headquarters said: “There is no terrorist base in the South-West” and added that it was intensifying the search for the abducted pupils and teachers. While the latter part of that statement brought some hope, the earlier part has already done some incalculable damage.
The statement, which was made available to correspondents by the Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Michael Onoja, quoted the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Olufemi Oluyede, as describing the attacks on Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota; Community Grammar School, Ahoro-Esinele; and L.A. Primary School as “callous and reprehensible.”
It stated that the Military high command had dismissed claims suggesting that terrorist groups have established a permanent operational base in the South-West region, following the recent abduction of pupils and staff members in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State. According to the military, intelligence available to it does not support reports of any entrenched terrorist infrastructure within the forests or hinterlands of the South-West region.
The military further claimed that the Armed Forces had previously conducted “extensive clearance operations” within the Old Oyo National Park to neutralise criminal elements operating in the area, significantly degrading their operational capacity. It, therefore, asked us to treat the Oriire incident as “an isolated criminal act,” which it said does not reflect the existence of any entrenched terrorist structure in the South-West region.
As much as the military reserves the right and professional competence to define the unfolding danger the way they deem necessary, they cannot stop the citizens from lamenting the plight of their compatriots in the name of humanity. We are touched, we are pained, and it did not start today, so we lament.
On January 18, this year, on this page, I wrote the article titled: “Insecurity: Is it time to redraw Nigeria’s map?” That piece was largely about the plight of the people of Tidibale in Sokoto State, who were forced to vacate their ancestral land on the orders of a terrorist kingpin, Bello Turji. What prompted my question on whether we should just cede the ungoverned spaces in Nigeria to the terrorists and redraw the country’s map was the fact that it was the government of Sokoto State that arranged the relocation of the people of Tidibale in Isa Local Government Area of the state to a “safer area” following the threats by Turji to wipe them all out.
I wrote at the time: “Since the bandits, terrorists, and kidnappers have taken control of the Nigerian forests and areas described as ‘ungoverned or ungovernable,’ the country can decide to let go of such territories and quickly redraw its map to recognise that reality. Several incidents that have taken place in recent times would justify this.”
What just happened at Oriire local government, which shares boundaries with the expansive Old Oyo National Park, further lends credence to my earlier assertion. If the government cannot provide cover for its people by allowing a free run for terrorists who occupy the ungoverned areas, maybe we’d better hand off such locations.
That is why I will continue to suspect that the statement from DHQ is about political correctness rather than the reality on the ground. It happened in Sokoto early in January, and the only response from the government was to relocate the people to a “safer place” after a terrorist leader had threatened to kill them because he accused the villagers of supplying intelligence that led to a military raid on his camps. If Turji can give an order and it is obeyed, who can convince anyone that the man doesn’t control a territory?
The DHQ said that there is no terrorist base in the South-West, and one would be very glad if that is the reality after all. But I am worried that the same terrorists without a base in the South-West have been kidnapping people in Ogun, Osun, Ondo, and Ekiti in recent months. Do they transport their victims all the way to their bases in the north? And there are endless questions about their latest victims in the Oriire local government. We know that the council borders the expansive Old Oyo National Park. This is supposed to be a national monument, which has, however, been abandoned by the Federal Government, the same way we treat all treasures of this land. For years, this large forest has been used as an illegal cattle grazing route en route to the southern part of the country.
Over the years, as the herders lost their innocence following the infiltration of criminal elements of Boko Haram from the North-East, I suspect that the modus operandi in the forest changed, and the Chibok-like kidnapping, as well as the vicious killing we saw in Ahoro-Esinele, might just be the outcome of the evil acculturation. Can we safely say that the criminals don’t have a base in the South-West? I sincerely pray so. For days, they have packed the innocent children, mothers, and fathers out of sight. Where have they been getting food to feed their victims? Who provides medications for the sick, and victims of insect bites, and all that? This reminds me of the story I was once told about that same Old Oyo National Park. As the story went, some years back, one of the earliest Boko Haram kingpins built a cell in the park, and he was using the place to house his kidnap victims picked from Kogi, Kwara, and Niger. I was, however, happy to hear that operatives found him out in those years and wiped out that location. Rather than dismiss the possibility of any such resurgence, the DHQ would need to put its ears to the ground more.
Ends.
