Hundreds of teachers marched through the streets of Ogbomoso on Monday, carrying placards and singing solidarity songs, while the schools they teach in sat largely empty — a haunting picture of a community gripped by grief and terror following the kidnapping of 46 people, including 39 pupils and seven teachers, from three schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State last Friday.
The protest came hours after a deeply disturbing video confirmed what many had feared: one of the abducted teachers, identified as the mathematics teacher from one of the affected schools, had been killed by the kidnappers while pleading for mercy. Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde confirmed the killing on Monday morning after a high-level security meeting. He named the victim, expressed visible grief and vowed that his administration would not surrender to terror.
The attack had taken place on Friday, when armed men stormed communities in the Ahoro-Esinele and Yawota areas of Oriire, in the Ogbomoso zone of the state. Three schools were targeted — LA Primary School and Community Grammar School in Ahoro-Esinele, and First Baptist Nursery and Primary School in Yawota. Two people, including an okada rider, were killed during the initial raid. Among those taken were very young children from the nursery school section.
The teachers identified as missing included the school principal, Mrs Alamu Folawe; the vice principal, Mr Ojo Jonathan; and other staff — Mr Olatunde Zacchaeus, Mr John Olaleye, Mr Michael Oyedokun, a Mrs Oladeji, and Mary Akanbi of Yawota Baptist Nursery and Primary School. A separate video had also circulated showing Mrs Alamu appealing directly to the Federal Government and the state government to secure the release of the captives without force.
The placard inscriptions carried by the protesting teachers on Monday told the story with painful clarity: “Gone but not forgotten.” “Noble teacher gone too soon.” “Their death demands action.” “No teacher should die at work.” “Teachers’ lives matter.” “Killed at their duty post.” The protesters marched to the TESCOM office in Ogbomoso and demanded the immediate release of their colleagues and the abducted students. They called on the governor, security agencies, local hunters, vigilante groups and Amotekun operatives to intensify rescue efforts.
One teacher addressed the crowd and said: “We are teachers in Ogbomoso protesting against kidnapping in our schools and villages. Last Friday, terrorists stormed Ahoro-Esinele and kidnapped seven teachers and about 40 students. We do not know where they are.” She added that all teachers across the state should join the protest, because nobody knows who the next target will be.
On Monday morning, checks by journalists in the affected areas of Oriire showed that schools were deserted. Parents had kept their children home. Only a handful of students showed up at some schools, with teachers reporting near-total absence among both staff and pupils.
President Bola Tinubu described the killing of the mathematics teacher as barbaric. In a statement issued by his spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, the President expressed condolences to Governor Makinde, the families of the victims and the people of Oyo State. He said security operatives were working round the clock to rescue the abducted individuals, adding that the Inspector-General of Police was personally leading a technology-driven operation on his instruction. He declared that the bandits and their local collaborators would be “fished out and made to face the full wrath of the law.” He also renewed his call on the National Assembly to pass the state police bill, arguing that underserved rural communities need local policing that national agencies cannot adequately provide.
Governor Makinde, while pledging not to bow to terror, said his government was prepared to listen to the demands of the kidnappers if that was what it took to bring the victims home safely. Security agencies reported that six suspects believed to have served as informants to the bandits — providing them with information on routes through a nearby National Park and the locations of hideouts — had been arrested in coordinated operations involving the police, army, Amotekun, civil defence and Agro-Rangers.
The Oyo attack has brought back the darkest chapters in Nigeria’s recent history. Since the 2014 Chibok abduction in Borno State, mass kidnappings of students have occurred in Kaduna, Zamfara, Niger and other states, each time followed by official assurances and partial rescues, but with the underlying problem never fully resolved. That this has now happened in Oyo State — in the South West — signals that no region of the country is insulated from the reach of armed criminal networks.