Oyo school abduction: Why we kept Nigerians in the dark for 56 days — IG

The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, has revealed why security agencies kept Nigerians in the dark and resisted pressure to launch a hasty operation during the 56-day captivity of abducted pupils and teachers in Oyo State.

Disu said the silence was deliberate, as disclosing operational details or rushing into the kidnappers’ hideout could have endangered the hostages and resulted in collateral damage.

The pupils and teachers were abducted in May 2026 after suspected terrorists attacked two schools in Oriire Local Government Area and dragged dozens of victims into captivity.

They were eventually rescued after spending 56 days with their captors following a coordinated operation involving the police, military, vigilantes and aerial surveillance teams.

Speaking at a press briefing on Thursday, Disu said security agencies faced intense criticism during the operation, with Nigerians questioning the delay and comparing the country’s response with rescue operations elsewhere.

He maintained that security chiefs could not respond publicly because doing so might have exposed the victims and compromised the operation.

“Everybody was attacking us left and right. What is this? What is that? We could not come out and talk. We could not expose those children,” he said.

“There is something they call collateral damage. People were forcing us. People were comparing us to other countries in the world. They wanted us to take hasty decisions.”

Disu said the attackers invaded two schools and escaped with the pupils and teachers in a vehicle belonging to one of the head teachers.

The kidnappers later set the vehicle ablaze at the entrance of the forest into which they disappeared.

“I will share with you the incident of the Ogbomoso kidnap. That day, they came. They went to two schools and kidnapped those children and their teachers.

“They used the vehicle of one of the teachers, the head teacher. When they got to the entrance of the bush they were going into, they set fire to the vehicle. We did not know why they did it,” he said.

The police chief said the location of the schools created serious difficulties for the rescue teams because the area had no reliable telecommunications network and was far from the nearest police station.

“In that area, there is no network at all. I think even the police station is very far from them. They had only one road that goes to the two villages where this kidnapping happened,” Disu said.

According to him, police officers, soldiers and vigilantes immediately began tracking the attackers through the forest.

He disclosed that one officer was shot dead during the search, lamenting that the sacrifice and risks taken by security personnel received little public attention.

“Policemen came, soldiers came and vigilantes came. They followed them through the path. Somebody was shot as we were following them.

“Nobody mentioned that. Nobody saw it. Nobody saw the effort we put in,” he said.

Disu said helicopters belonging to the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Air Force were also deployed as the search continued day and night.

“From that moment, the Nigerian Air Force helicopter, the police helicopter, everybody was there searching day and night,” he added.

The IGP said senior security officials held meetings late into the night, weighing available options and trying to determine how to rescue the hostages without placing them in greater danger.

“We were holding meetings late in the night about it, trying to take decisions,” he said.

He added that details of the operation were withheld even from several security personnel because authorities wanted to prevent information from reaching the kidnappers.

“Most of this, we did not come back and tell a lot of our colleagues because we wanted to keep it secret. Parties we could not attend. A lot of things happened, but we could not talk about them,” Disu said