Oyo school children kidnap: The shame of a country

Imagining innocent pupils and their teachers in terrorists’ den and being subjected to inhuman treatment sends shivers down my spine.

I have never experienced kidnapping but I have spoken to kidnapped victims and the perpetrators (kidnappers) in the course of my job as a security journalist and consultant. To find one’s self in the hands of kidnappers is an unpalatable experience. It is just like one coming face-to-face with armed robbers or one coming face- to- face with death. It is a scary experience.

Many who have had such experience can easily relate with this write-up, it is emotionally devastating and can easily affect the psychology of the victim. Many victims of armed-robbery and terrorist, bandits and kidnappers have gone through untold trauma.

According to a medical expert, the kidnapped Oyo school children would experience a long term physical health, mental health, social health and emotional trauma which he described as a complete traumatic situation. He explained that even if the children eventually come out of the terrorists’ den, it would be very difficult for them to relate with their mates and their parents.

Recall that on May 15th 2026, armed Fulani bandits stormed three schools namely community High School ,Ahoro-Esinele, L.A. Primary school Esiele, and Baptist Nursery and Primary School Yawota, all located in Oriire local government area of Oyo state, wielding firearm and shooting sporadically. They later kidnapped pupils and teachers from the schools and herded them into the forest.

The trepidation that engulfed other schools within Oriire after the incident must have sent jitters down the spines of parents, students and teachers hence the desertion of schools in the area.

Meanwhile, it is saddening to note that even after the incident, no security personnel was sighted either around the school or along the route of escape into the forest. It was obvious that  no staff of the school had the telephone number of any security station or personnel for urgent security or emergency calls.One then wonders what happened to the famed “safe school program” In sane climes, both the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and the Area Commander in the affected LGA would have been detained for negligence of duty.

It is over three weeks since the  innocent pupils and their teachers were kidnapped yet there have been no firm efforts to bring them home. The parents of the pupils and the teachers perhaps overwhelming voted for the President Tinubu simply because he had promised to end insecurity and secure Nigeria during his electioneering campaigns.

The innocent children and their teachers are being dehumanised in the forest. Firstly, they are being  exposed to harsh and inclement weather situation. Secondly, they are being treated like prisoners of war. Thirdly, they can’t eat what they desire, except what is made available by the terrorists. Fourthly, there is no bathing but are allowed to excrete in the bush where dangerous animals like snake can easily attack the them. Fifthly, no terrorist would be kind enough to provide blankets for their victims, so the children are being exposed to mosquito bites. The young girls amongst them might be subjected to sexual assault while the young boys might be subjected to acts of sodomy. The children are denied all the luxuries they are used to, which adds more to the trauma they are already passing through.Terrorists and kidnappers behave like animals and they treat their captives likewise.

In this technology- driven age, one would have expected the deployments of drone by security agencies to precisely locate where both the children and their captors are but what we are fed everyday are empty assurances by the government. As the days go by, the trauma being extended to the parents and family members of the abductees continues to increase. Imagine the trauma a mother whose  only son or only child is among the abductees will be experiencing righ now. Unlike America where government deploys all resources to rescue one American in captivity, what is deployed in Nigeria is lackadaisical attitude, vapid “vows” of action and banal rhetorics with a touch of politics!

A policeman’s passionate appeal

Dear Security file, my name is Umezruike Iroaku Ojiako, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) attached to Owerri Urban Division, Owerri, Imo state command. I’m a native of Obeama Agwa Oguta LGA Imo state.

On 15th April 2026, I travelled home to see my aged mother, at about 2:45pm while at home I had got a call from the late Traditional ruler of my community, His Royal Highness Eze S.O. Onuegbu Uguru who asked if I would be going back to Owerri soon and I said yes.He then requested to join my car to town. After about 45 minutes of that call, he came to my house with another four persons and thereafter, we left my house in company with one Mr. Innocent Ononauju from Umuofeke Agwa and both of us left together in a convoy.

While we were driving in the convoy, the vehicle being driven behind me by Mr. Innocent Ononaju, suddenly disappeared from my sight, unfortunately, as I waited for him to close up, six-armed herdsmen surrounded my car and abducted two of us- me and the Eze.

I was seriously stabbed even to my eyes. I did not know what they did to the Eze, it was later I learnt that he was rushed to the hospital, Federal Medical Centre (FMC) where he was later pronounced dead. The attackers took me to the bush where I spent 3 days and they collected 7 million for as ransom for my release. Upon my release, and I rushed to Imo Specialist Hospital, Owerri for treatment.

Unfortunately, after one month, the family of the late Eze wrote a petition that, I set the Eze up to become the next Eze and since then I’ve been in detention. Please I am appealing that the authorities should carry out an independent investigation into this matter because I am completely innocent of the allegation. I am a senior police officer, I have future in the police. Thank you.

Happy birthday!

Security file wishes to felicitate Brother Joshua Iginla who is the General Overseer of Champions Royal Assembly Church, Kubwa, Abuja. He is a prayer warrior and an avid reader of this column. Security File celebrates him as he mark’s his 57th birthday with pomp and special prayer for the country.

Happy birthday, GO!