Oyo Abduction: Inside the Terrorists’ Plot to Stall the Rescue
By: Abudu Olalekan
Thirty-six days. That’s how long it’s been since gunmen stormed three schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State and marched pupils and teachers into the bush.
Today, those abductors — members of Jama’atu Ahlis-Sunna Lidda’Awati Wal-Jihad, better known as Boko Haram — are holed up inside the Oyo National Park. Surrounded. But far from beaten.
Reportersroom learnt that the terrorists have spent the past weeks doing everything they can to frustrate the rescue: planting Improvised Explosive Devices across the forest, shifting locations almost daily, and — most chillingly — using the children and teachers as human shields.
At the same time, they’ve taken the fight elsewhere. Security sources say the group has stepped up attacks in other parts of the country in a calculated bid to pull troops away from Oyo and stretch the security forces thin.
It’s working, at least in part. The operation has already cost soldiers their lives.
The May 15 attacks
The victims were seized on May 15 from Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota; L.A. Primary School; and Community Grammar School, Esiele.
No fewer than 42 pupils and teachers, including a principal, were taken that day.
The horror deepened the very next day. One of the abducted teachers, Michael Oyedokun, was killed by the terrorists — a message, security operatives believe, meant to warn them off.
The kidnappers have since named their price: the release of two of their commanders in exchange for the captives. The men are Mahmud Usman, also known as Abu Bara’a or Abbas Mukhtar, and his deputy, Abubakar Abba — alias Isah Adam, Mahmud Al-Nigeri, or Mallam Mamuda.
The government’s answer has been flat. No negotiations. It has vowed to bring the pupils and teachers home by force.
Trapped, and planting bombs
Security operatives familiar with the operation told Reportersroom that every known exit route out of the forest is now manned by soldiers, making it nearly impossible for the terrorists to move their victims out.
But getting in is just as hard. Troops trying to flush the gunmen out have come under fire twice, leaving at least three personnel dead.
One source, who spoke anonymously because he wasn’t cleared to discuss the operation, said the terrain and the terrorists’ tactics have slowed everything to a crawl.
“They have planted IEDs everywhere, and our men are exploring professional methods to navigate the difficult areas,” he said.
“Some soldiers have been killed in the operation. There have been shootouts on two occasions. The military lost three personnel in those shootouts. Just two weeks ago, two soldiers were killed in the forest. That has really slowed down the operation, but we are not relenting.”
The gunmen, he added, shift ground almost every day to stay ahead of their pursuers.
“They know they are being monitored and that security operatives are everywhere. So they move their victims from one place to another. But they can’t leave the forest. They have been surrounded.”
Governor Seyi Makinde has publicly confirmed the military losses. Addressing protesters on Tuesday, he said: “We have lost men, even soldiers and officers. I can confirm to you that a lieutenant in the Nigerian Army was killed two days ago.”
A diversion, by design
A former state lawmaker who knows the rescue operation well told Reportersroom that the terrorists’ commanders have deliberately ramped up attacks in the North to ease the pressure building around the Oyo forest.
Caged in, he said, they’re trying to stretch the security forces until their grip on the park loosens enough to slip through.
“From intelligence reports, we got to know that the terrorists deliberately increased the tempo of attacks on innocent citizens and communities just to distract the security operatives from forging ahead with the rescue operation,” the ex-lawmaker said on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“They have been surrounded, and they know the soldiers in the forest are getting close to them. So they and their commanders increased the scale of attacks so that the soldiers trailing them in the Oyo forest will be withdrawn or reduced. That is their tactic. But it will not work.
“Very soon, the children and teachers will be rescued. The security men have blocked all the paths they can escape through, and they are becoming weaker.”
Human shields
For the soldiers on the ground, the hardest part isn’t the bombs or the terrain. It’s the hostages.
A security source close to the operation said the abductors’ use of the victims as human shields is the single biggest obstacle to a decisive rescue.
“They’re using their victims as shields, and we don’t want a situation where they would begin to kill those children,” the source said.
“The political actors don’t want us to penetrate as much as possible, and truly, if we do and they kill one of the victims, the outcry would be too much. They would blame it on us.”
The group, he added, doesn’t operate like ordinary bandits, which makes tracking and intercepting them far harder. “They have reinforced and are over 200 in the location where they are keeping the victims.”
A forced assault, he warned, could end in catastrophe.
“If we want to penetrate, and there is an exchange of fire, it could hit the victims, or they kill the victims themselves.”
Even so, he said the terrorists are pushing attacks in Kwara and other areas to keep security forces guessing. “Very soon we would go to one of the locations in Kwara to flush them out.”
‘Don’t take the bait’
Retired Brigadier-General John Sura agrees the nationwide surge is a feint. The goal, he said, is to ease the squeeze on the men holding the Oyo captives.
His advice: don’t fall for it.
“The issue of the sudden surge all over the place is to re-engage the thinking of the country, both the politicians and the military, from concentrating their efforts on these kidnappers of the schoolchildren,” Sura told Reportersroom.
“Diverting the attention of security agencies is a tactic by any military or terrorist group, so that you don’t concentrate all your efforts on one side. Therefore, I would advise that the military concentrate its efforts on the rescue of the schoolchildren, while every other commander should raise the stakes in the surge and also in the defence of the people.
“I think it is a tactic to stretch out the military and also stretch out the country as a whole and paint us as if we are in a state of war.”
Sura also argued for handing more authority to community leaders to sharpen local intelligence. “We must begin to devolve authority to village heads and community leaders, so that they will also be sanctioned if attackers passes through their community to another community,” he said.
Any rescue, he cautioned, has to be surgical. “The plan to rescue them must be a close-circuit plan. They must also know the location, the strength of these people, what they are doing and when they are off their timing before they embark on the rescue.”
He also pushed for the military to lean on NIGCOMSAT for real-time aerial footage of the dense forest. “I think it is high time that we revisit the issue of NIGCOMSAT to see how it can assist in getting footage and images that will help the military. Outside this, it is guesswork.”
A more sophisticated enemy
Another retired Brigadier-General, Bashir Adewinbi, said the terrorists have clearly changed tactics — and gotten better equipped.
“The act of using explosives to slow down the activities of whoever is coming to attack them is very unfortunate. That is another dimension entirely. That means they are dominating the environment,” he said.
He warned that the IEDs would turn parts of the forest into death traps for civilians too, and urged security agencies to ease off heavy ground deployments in favour of aerial surveillance.
Adewinbi also called on the Federal Government to fast-track the trial and execution of convicted terrorists. “What we are witnessing is a lesson that Nigeria should not keep terrorists in custody for long. Any terrorist caught should be made to go through a speedy trial and executed upon conviction.”
Silence from the government
The Oyo State Government, for its part, is saying as little as possible.
Commissioner for Information Dotun Oyelade said the state is being deliberately tight-lipped to protect the hostages. “We stand by our initial comment that our information will come from only one source. We are being very discreet in what we say, so that we will not put the lives of the teachers and pupils in jeopardy.”
A community leader tracking the operation, who asked not to be named, said the soldiers are not camped permanently inside the forest. “The soldiers went back into the forest on Thursday. They are not permanently in the bush because the terrorists don’t stay in one location. The terrorists have not been able to leave the forest.”
A country under siege
Reportersroom’s findings point to a sharp rise in terrorist and bandit attacks across Nigeria since the May 15 abduction.
The same day as the Oyo attack, Boko Haram fighters hit Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School in Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, abducting about 42 pupils.
On May 21, bandits attacked Kurmin Bongo in Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State, killing five residents.
On May 30, the Katsina State Government announced the abduction of a former Army spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Rabe Abubakar (retd.), and his wife. Abubakar died in captivity on June 13.
On June 5, Boko Haram terrorists attacked a Nigerian Army base in Mandaragirau, under 25 Brigade, Sector 2, in Biu Local Government Area of Borno State, killing five soldiers and three members of the Civilian Joint Task Force.
On June 10, the Edo State Government shut three secondary schools in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area after intelligence warned of a planned kidnap attack by the same group behind the Oyo abduction.
Between June 13 and 14, terrorists killed at least 17 farmers in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
On June 17, nine people were killed when bandits struck the Angwan Magaji community in Kamaru Ward of Kauru Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
In Katsina State, bandits blocked the Katsina-Kankara highway and stopped a commercial vehicle carrying 11 passengers. Police later rescued nine of them; the driver and one passenger are still missing.
A police security report obtained by Reportersroom recorded no fewer than 98 criminal incidents across the country in a single seven-day stretch last week. The incidents — spread across Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi and several other states — included mass abductions, attacks on rural communities and highway kidnappings. They broke down into 37 homicide cases, 27 banditry attacks, 24 kidnappings, eight armed robberies and two terrorism-related attacks.
When Reportersroom reached out, the Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Michael Onoja, declined to comment.
“No comments, please,” he said.
