Nigerian special adviser to the President on media and public Communications Sunday Dare during a visit to a hospital where pupils and teachers were being assessed following their rescue from captivity after 56 days (PHOTO: Instagram)
Nigerian security forces have rescued dozens of schoolchildren and teachers nearly two months after they were abducted by suspected Boko Haram-linked Islamic militants, raising fresh concerns that Islamist extremists are expanding their reach into southwestern Nigeria, officials said.
President Bola Tinubu announced last Friday that all those abducted during coordinated raids on three schools in Oyo State on May 15 had been freed following what officials described as a joint military, police, and intelligence-led operation.
Authorities said at least 39 pupils and six teachers were rescued. Eight suspected militants were arrested, while several others were killed during the operation. One teacher reportedly died in captivity shortly after the abduction.
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“I am profoundly happy that our security forces successfully rescued the abducted pupils and teachers,” Tinubu said, praising the operation and describing it as the end of an ordeal lasting more than 50 days.
Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga said security forces located the hostages after weeks of searches in and around Old Oyo National Park, where officials believed they had been held.
Officials said the kidnappers had demanded the release of one of their members facing prosecution, but security forces instead launched the rescue operation that freed the captives while arresting eight suspects.
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The mass kidnapping was unusual for Oyo State, where large-scale school abductions have been rare compared with northern Nigeria, where Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and armed criminal gangs have repeatedly targeted educational institutions.
Southwestern Nigeria has traditionally been viewed as more secure than the country’s northeast, where Boko Haram launched its insurgency in 2009, killing tens of thousands of people and displacing millions.
Boko Haram attacks
Authorities have not indicated whether the rescued pupils and teachers were predominantly Christians. However, Boko Haram has repeatedly targeted Christian communities, churches, and schools during its insurgency.
The group’s most notorious attack came in April 2014 when 276 schoolgirls were abducted from Chibok in Borno State. Many of the girls were Christians, and dozens remain missing despite years of rescue efforts.
Since then, Boko Haram and other Islamist militants have carried out numerous kidnappings involving students from government and Christian schools, often demanding ransom payments or the release of imprisoned fighters.
The repeated attacks have disrupted education across parts of northern Nigeria and left many families fearful of sending their children to school.
Christian persecution
Nigeria continues to face a complex security crisis involving Islamist insurgents, heavily armed kidnapping gangs, and communal violence that has claimed thousands of lives and forced millions from their homes.
Rights advocates welcomed Friday’s rescue but warned that without stronger protection for schools and sustained pressure on militant groups, Nigeria remains vulnerable to further mass kidnappings.
According to Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List, Nigeria ranks seventh among the countries where Christians face the most severe persecution.
The organisation says 3 490 Christians were killed for their faith during the latest reporting period — about 70% of all Christians killed worldwide — and describes Nigeria as the world’s deadliest country for Christians.
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