NANS, Activists Disagree On Oyo Kidnapping At Security Forum
The National Association of Nigerian Students and the Take It Back Movement Nigeria traded accusations on Thursday over the abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, with each group blaming the other for a violent confrontation that broke out during an earlier protest in Ibadan.
The two bodies fell out during a News Central Town Hall Series themed “Oyo At A Crossroads: Security, Safety and The Future,” held at the Ibadan Civic Centre, Agodi. In separate remarks on the sidelines, the groups disagreed over a recent protest on the Oyo abductees during which they clashed around Bodija in Ibadan North Local Government Area.
The dispute traces back to coordinated attacks on May 15, 2026, when armed men stormed Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota, Community Grammar School and L.A. Primary School, Esiele, in Oriire. Suspected bandits attacked three schools in the Oriire Local Government Area, abducting about 39 students and seven teachers. The crisis escalated days later when Michael Oyedokun, one of the abducted teachers, was killed by the abductors. The Nigeria Union of Teachers subsequently declared an indefinite strike effective June 1, 2026, demanding the immediate and safe release of the abducted pupils and teachers.
The state Assistant General Secretary of the NANS Joint Campus Council, Damilare Olayemi, accused civil society organisations of habitually maligning the students’ body. He said the Take It Back Movement had alleged that the government sponsored NANS to disrupt their protest, which he denied.
“We were buying fuel at one of the filling stations around Bodija axis and they block the road. We have about 30 vehicles on the road. And we told them to allow us to move,” Olayemi said. “Within a twinkle of an eye, they started throwing stones on us. Are they expecting us not to retaliate?”
He added that NANS had separately protested at the Governor’s Office alongside the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Nigeria Union of Teachers, the Trade Union Congress and other unions, and that the state government said it was working on the matter. “These people should not come here or go anywhere and be spoiling the name of our association,” he said.
Femi Adeyeye, a representative of the Take It Back Movement, said the movement was on a peaceful protest when NANS members engaged them, alleging the students were mobilised to disrupt it. “If you check the video, we were not as even many. So, how can we now block the road?” he said, describing counter-protests as a “divide and rule” tactic.
Adeyeye argued that insecurity was fundamentally a political problem rooted in policy failure. “The kidnappers, the bandits, the terrorists, they are political tools,” he said, urging that authorities who cannot guarantee security and welfare “should resign.” He also warned against “commercialising insecurity” through ransom negotiations, cautioning that doing so could amount to indirectly “financing terrorism.”
The state President of the National Association of Seadogs, Bola Osodipo, faulted the government’s handling of the crisis, saying its approach to kidnapping “is not good.” He referenced calls by Sunday Igboho to confront the bandits, adding, “Somebody that said he is going to the bush, let him go, all he is asking for is your approval and your support.”