Nigerian security forces have successfully rescued at least 39 schoolchildren and six teachers who were held captive after being kidnapped by gunmen in the country’s southwestern Oyo state, a spokesperson for the Nigerian presidency announced Friday.
The victims were taken on May 15 when armed men stormed multiple schools in Oyo’s Oriire district. The abduction lasted nearly two months before authorities were able to secure their release.
State officials in Oyo had previously reported that one of the kidnapped teachers died while being held captive. Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga confirmed in an official statement that eight of the suspected kidnappers have been apprehended and remain in custody.
The statement included remarks from President Bola Tinubu, who vowed that his administration “will get justice for these children and their teachers” as well as for the family of the teacher “who the terrorists gruesomely murdered.”
Mass abductions carried out by armed criminal groups have emerged as a growing security crisis across Nigeria in recent years. These gangs have taken advantage of weak law enforcement presence and poorly monitored borders to target travelers, students, and rural residents, typically demanding cash or goods in exchange for releasing their captives.
Schools have frequently been singled out as targets, though such attacks occur less often in Nigeria’s southwestern region compared to other parts of the country.
