Oyo Abduction: Obi Says He Would Have Entered Forest to Rescue Victims If He Were President

Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) , Peter Obi

Oyo Abduction: Obi Says He Would Have Entered Forest to Rescue Victims If He Were President

The NDC presidential candidate criticises President Tinubu’s handling of the Oriire school abduction, insisting on decisive leadership and transparency in security operations.

Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) , Peter Obi, has declared that he would have personally entered the forest where pupils and teachers abducted in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State were held if he were serving as Nigeria’s president. The former Anambra State governor made the remarks during an interview on Afia TV’s State of the Nation programme aired live on Thursday. The abduction occurred on May 15, 2026, when armed gunmen attacked Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota; Community Grammar School, Esiele; and LA Primary School in Ogbomoso, all located in Oriire LGA. Two people were killed during the coordinated attacks, according to the Oyo State Police Command, while no fewer than 45 pupils and teachers were reportedly taken away by the gunmen. The incident forced the Oyo State Government to close schools across four local government areas as security agencies intensified rescue efforts. The victims spent about 56 days in captivity before the Presidency announced on July 10 that they had regained their freedom.

Speaking on the incident, Obi stressed that decisive leadership is crucial in addressing Nigeria’s security challenges, maintaining that he would not have allowed the victims to remain in captivity for weeks under his administration. He insisted that everyone held by the abductors would have been rescued, even if the operation came at a cost. “Days of kidnap of Oyo children. The president did not call the governor. What do you mean? Fifty days. But I’ll be there in two days. Is the bush not in Nigeria? That bush they went in. The bush is in Nigeria. Everybody in that bush will come out. Everybody. There might be casualties, but everybody will come out,” Obi said. He further criticised what he described as the secrecy surrounding security operations in Nigeria, arguing that authorities should publicly demonstrate results after arresting criminal suspects. “And it is time when we say we resolve something. We arrest some people. Parade the people. Let people see them. What is happening? When America or other countries kill people like that, they parade them. They show it. Everybody sees it. In Nigeria, everything is shrouded in secrecy,” he added.

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Recalling his tenure as Anambra governor, Obi said he confronted criminal activities in forests across the state by taking direct action after consulting then-President Olusegun Obasanjo. He said he informed Obasanjo that a particular forest had become a security threat and insisted that criminal elements operating there had to be driven out. Obi also mentioned several notorious criminals who, according to him, were killed during security operations in Anambra while he was governor. He stressed that effective leadership required clear authority and personal responsibility. “No way. It’s either I’m in charge or you people are in charge. I go home. One person must be in charge. And if you’re in charge, if you want to lead, you should be ready to die. If you don’t want to, you go home. One must be in charge,” Obi said.

Obi faulted President Bola Tinubu’s handling of the abduction, claiming the President failed to personally reach out to Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde throughout the more than 50-day ordeal. He had earlier, in a post on his X handle on July 5, alleged that more than 50 days after the incident, President Tinubu had neither contacted Governor Makinde to express sympathy nor discussed efforts to secure the release of the abducted pupils. He had also called on President Tinubu to either resign from office or abandon any plan to seek re-election in 2027, accusing him of failing to demonstrate leadership following the abduction. Drawing a comparison with the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls abduction, Obi recalled that Tinubu was among those who criticised then-President Goodluck Jonathan for delaying contact with the affected governor. “I vividly recall that the current President, Bola Tinubu, led a team of vocal critics who called for President Jonathan’s immediate resignation over the incident, citing his delay in calling the state governor. That call for immediate resignation should actually be the case in this matter,” Obi wrote. Obi further alleged that more than 13 school kidnappings had occurred since Tinubu assumed office and questioned why the President had not personally engaged the governor of the affected state more than seven weeks after the latest abduction. He disclosed that he visited Ibadan on July 3 alongside Professor Pat Utomi to express solidarity with Governor Makinde, during which he learned that the governor had not received any call from the President. “I cannot imagine any issue more important than the lives of our kidnapped children, their teachers and the many other Nigerians being held captive across the country. It is now an indisputable fact that governance has completely collapsed under this administration,” he stated.

President Tinubu, speaking on July 30 while receiving a delegation of traditional rulers from Oyo State led by the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, explained why the Federal Government refused to negotiate with the terrorists. He said security agencies understood the terrain where the victims were held and commended the armed forces for securing the release of the abducted victims. “We refused to pay ransom. We have the geography of the forest. We know what it is,” the President said. He also disclosed that the military was expanding its operational capacity by increasing the number of divisions from eight to 12 to reduce response time and strengthen efforts against insecurity. The President also confirmed that eight of the kidnappers were arrested during the operation, while several others were neutralised.

The rescue operation, which involved the military, police, intelligence agencies and local vigilante groups, took about a month to execute and resulted in the safe return of all 44 victims. The military acknowledged that some of its personnel were killed during the operation. The rescued victims were taken to an undisclosed hospital for medical treatment. Rachael Folawe Alamu, headteacher of Community Grammar School, spoke about the 56-day ordeal she and other teachers and students faced while in captivity deep in the bush, being frequently moved by the kidnappers at night and often walking for several hours. She described how two of her male colleagues were killed by the kidnappers—one soon after their abduction and another in June. “They killed them purposely because they thought it would force the hand of the government to provide them whatever they wanted,” she said. Three men were later sentenced to life imprisonment after pleading guilty to concealing information about the kidnappers and confessing to being members of an affiliate of Boko Haram. Governor Makinde also inaugurated an eight-man Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the abduction to establish the facts, identify any institutional lapses, and recommend measures to strengthen the protection of schools.