Oyo School Abductions: Protests Continue as Captivity Enters 18th Day 

As the captivity of 46 hostages (39 pupils and 7 teachers) enters its eighteenth day, mass protests across Oyo State have entered their second consecutive day. On Thursday, May 15, 2026, armed men, camouflaged in military uniforms, raided three schools in the Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State: the Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota; the Community Grammar School, Ahoro-Esiele; and L.A. Primary School, Ahoro-Esiele. In the attack, an assistant headteacher, Mr Joel Adesiyan, was killed by the terrorists, alongside a motorcycle rider, before they abducted 46 victims (39 pupils and 7 teachers). Tragically, Mr Michael Oyedokun, one of the teachers who was abducted, was murdered, as seen in a video released by the abductors. 

Similarly, in Borno State on May 15, no less than 42 students (28 pupils, four secondary school students and 10 young children) were also kidnapped, and even used as body shields during the  attempt to evade security intervention. Although this incident is yet to draw urgent attention, civil society groups in Borno State have decried the attack and have condemned the growing silence from the Presidency. 

The abduction in Oyo State, coupled with the prolonged captivity of the victims and the growing insecurity, has triggered a state-wide outrage and protest. Various groups, including teachers, students and civil groups, began mass demonstrations across the streets of Ibadan, shutting down schools and paralysing daily activities across Oyo State to demand the immediate rescue of the hostages and an end to the rising insecurity. 

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) issued a directive on Sunday, May 31, 2026, ordering the indefinite closure of public schools in Oyo State. According to the release, the closure and sit-at-home order is expected to linger until the abductees have been released. The release also instructed the state wings of the union in the capitals of all states to protest in solidarity with Oyo State and to demand the immediate implementation of federal school safety protocols nationwide.  The protests have also spilt to Ogun State and the nation’s capital, Abuja. 

According to the president of the union, Audu Amba, the action is to further pressure  the government into guaranteeing  the protection of the lives of both students and teachers across the country. The leadership of the Union in Oyo State also stated that the unabated abduction and security crisis has deepened fear and anxiety amongst teachers and students in the state. 

This series of attacks on schools and other vulnerable communities has led to the closure of more than 200 schools (particularly in the North) in the last few years. According to a recent report, no less than 2,531 students have been kidnapped since 2014. Teachers are increasingly losing confidence to tutor students in many communities, and parents have been shepherding their children from attending schools in a number of states. The recent Orire incident has heightened the worry that criminal groups have expanded their operations into areas previously considered relatively secure. 

Unfortunately, the posture of the Nigerian government has been extremely depressing. More than anything else, it has worsened the wound caused by the terrorist attacks on civilians. In the aftermath of the attack, Governor Seyi Makinde condemned the incident and assured residents that security agencies were working to secure the release of the victims. He also ordered the deployment of the local security outfit, Amotekun, to certain areas of the state. During his visit to the affected families on May 20, Hhe has also attempted to assure residents and victims that they are working to secure the release of the abductees. Nevertheless, his efforts have been pathetically ineffective and have only done more to highlight the gaping flaw in Nigeria’s polity — the fact that state governments are administratively unable to safeguard the lives and properties of the residents of their states. 

On the other hand, the federal government’s responses have been dismissive and woefully abysmal, as they have been for a long time now. So far, the federal government has primarily issued the same hollow rhetoric and ineffective bureaucratic directives that have done nothing to improve the catastrophe at hand. President Bola Tinubu issued commands to security chiefs to rescue the Oyo hostages, deployed a high-powered executive delegation to Ibadan and also claimed to have deployed forest guards. 

These directives show no administrative zeal or passion to eliminate the threat of terrorism tearing through the country. What they do show is that there is a president who is thoroughly out of touchune with whatever crisis the people are going through. The conundrum we are in becomes unbearably knotty when we come to grasp that the government is not ignorant of the solutions required to end this crisis. It is not the case that the state lacks the blueprint or the technical capacity to secure our schools; we have said all there is to be said, and the necessary security strategies have been articulated repeatedly by experts, communities, and labour unions alike. Yet, this crisis still lingers.

Salvation, as things stand, will not come from the presidential villa. What must be done now is for opposition parties, civil action groups, and everyday citizens to muster hands in a far more virulent and uncompromising pushback through sustained nationwide protests, no matter the cost. We cannot continue to act as though repeated abductions of students and people and chronic insecurity across the country are normal. Acting this way is to embolden the perpetrators to continue in their heinous acts. Only a disruptive mobilization of public anger will force a detached government to confront this existential threat.