Senate Warns Makinde Over UN Probe Call
The Senate has cautioned Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, over his call for a United Nations led investigation into the abduction of pupils and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area, warning that such a demand could undermine the efforts of the Federal Government and security agencies in tackling terrorism and kidnapping.
The caution was contained in resolutions adopted during Tuesday’s plenary, following a motion by the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, on the rescue of the victims after 56 days in captivity. Edo North Senator, Adams Oshiomhole, raised the objection to the governor’s position, and it was seconded by Aniekan Bassey, who represents Akwa Ibom North East.
Makinde had, while formally receiving the rescued pupils and teachers in Ibadan on Monday, urged the UN and international human rights bodies to examine the circumstances of the attack. “The circumstances surrounding this incident are sufficiently grave and unusual to warrant independent scrutiny beyond our domestic institutions,” he said, insisting that the request was not political. “This is not about politics. It is about justice for the victims, reassurance for our people, and restoring public confidence that every Nigerian child can go to school without fear,” the governor stated. He acknowledged that responsibility for national security rests with the Federal Government under the Constitution.
The victims were seized on May 15, 2026, when heavily armed men launched coordinated raids on Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota; Community Grammar School, Ahoro Esiele; and L.A. Primary School, all in Oriire. Official accounts put the number taken at 39 pupils and six teachers, including the school principal, Mrs Alamu. One teacher was killed during the assault, while a mathematics teacher, Michael Oyedokun, died in captivity and his remains are yet to be recovered.
The Defence Headquarters identified the attackers as dislodged members of Boko Haram, and the Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, said the captives were taken to pressure the government into releasing detained terror commanders. The abductees were reportedly held within the Old Oyo National Park, a protected forest reserve, throughout the ordeal. The episode is widely regarded as the first prolonged school abduction in Nigeria’s South West, a zone long considered insulated from the mass kidnappings that have plagued the North.
The presidency announced the release on July 10, 2026, stating that eight suspected kidnappers were arrested and are in the custody of the Department of State Services, while several others were neutralised. The Federal Government maintained that no ransom was paid and that a gang leader whose release the abductors demanded remained in custody. The Oyo State Government, which had rejected calls to negotiate, described its no ransom position as a deliberate policy against emboldening criminal gangs.
In its resolutions, the Senate commended President Bola Tinubu, the Armed Forces, the DSS and other agencies for an operation it said reflected improved collaboration among the security services. It mourned the personnel who died, naming Lieutenant F.A. Isaac of the Nigerian Army, Private Silas Musa of the 81 Battalion, and Sergeant Abena John Jerome of the Nigeria Police Force, while recognising Lance Corporal Adamu Hussain, who sustained injuries. The lawmakers urged prompt payment of death benefits and better welfare, equipment and surveillance capacity for the forces.
The Oriire attack fits a decade long pattern. Since the abduction of 276 girls from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, in April 2014, tracking by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting has counted at least 2,416 students taken in about 26 major school attacks up to May 2026. Amnesty International separately documented at least 1,700 children seized in 17 mass abductions in the decade after Chibok, of whom scores, including about 82 Chibok girls, have never returned.
The pace has not eased. In November 2025, gunmen abducted more than 300 pupils and 12 teachers from St Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State, the largest single haul since Chibok. Data from SBM Intelligence recorded 7,568 people kidnapped in 1,130 incidents nationwide between July 2023 and June 2024, with abductors demanding about 11 billion naira. This persists despite a 2022 law that outlawed ransom payments and made kidnapping punishable by death. UNESCO estimates that roughly 20 million Nigerian children are out of school, among the highest figures in the world.
Fears that the violence is drifting southward were sharpened days after the Oriire release, when a 60 year old headmaster, Kolawole Matthew Owoade, was abducted and later abandoned in Itesiwaju Local Government Area of Oyo State on July 11.