Musa: Abductors Threaten to Kill Oyo Schoolchildren
Almost eight weeks after gunmen stormed three schools in the Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State and seized dozens of pupils and their teachers, the fate of the captives has taken a darker turn, with the Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa, disclosing that the abductors have threatened to kill the children if soldiers move any closer.
Musa made the revelation in a preview of an interview with News Central Television, released on Wednesday ahead of the full broadcast. He explained that the armed group is holding the pupils as leverage to force the military into freeing some of their commanders currently in detention. “For whatever reason, they are looking for leverage because we have some of their commanders with us, and they feel taking these kids and holding them to ransom will make us release their commander,” the minister said. He added, “Now they’re threatening that if we move any closer to take action against them, they’re going to kill all the kids.”
The abduction took place on Friday, May 15, when gunmen carried out what the police described as a coordinated attack on Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota, and two other schools in the Esinle area of Oriire. According to official accounts, 39 pupils and seven teachers were taken, some of the children as young as two years old. The scale of the operation, striking three schools almost simultaneously, drew swift national condemnation, with President Bola Tinubu describing it at the time as “barbaric” and pledging that the Federal Government would work with the Oyo State authorities to secure the release of every victim.
The weeks that followed brought grief rather than relief. Two of the abducted teachers, Joel Adesiyan and Michael Oyedokun, were killed in captivity, and videos later surfaced showing frightened pupils and staff pleading for the authorities to meet the kidnappers’ demands. Those demands, security sources have indicated, went beyond ransom to include the release of two detained figures, Mahmud Usman, also known as Abu Bara’a, and his deputy, Abubakar Abba, both identified by security agencies as senior members of Ansaru, a breakaway faction of Boko Haram arrested by the Department of State Services last year.
The prolonged captivity has carried consequences well beyond the affected communities. The Nigeria Union of Teachers ordered a statewide withdrawal of services from June 1 in protest at what it saw as the slow pace of the rescue effort, keeping public schools shut for a month before calling off the action and directing teachers to resume on Thursday, July 2, after fresh assurances from the state government on school security.
Even so, the authorities have projected cautious optimism in recent days. The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, said troops were making “tremendous progress” in the rescue mission, while security operatives are reported to have traced members of the kidnappers’ wider network across the country, a development that has reportedly placed the gang under mounting pressure.
Musa used the interview to renew his long standing call for tougher penalties, throwing his weight behind the death penalty for convicted kidnappers and terrorists. He argued that weak sanctions had emboldened criminal groups and that firm, certain punishment was needed to strengthen Nigeria’s fight against kidnapping and banditry.
The safe return of the abducted pupils and teachers remains a matter of urgent national concern, with the interview scheduled to air in full on Friday.