Peter Obi says he would have personally led rescue efforts within two days, accusing Tinubu of never calling Governor Makinde during the ordeal
Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), says he would have personally gone into the forest where pupils and teachers abducted in Oriire, Oyo State, were held, if he were president.
Background to the Oriire abduction
On 15 May, gunmen attacked Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota; Community Grammar School, Esiele; and LA Primary School in Ogbomoso, all in Oriire local government area of Oyo State.
The Oyo Police Command said two people were killed during the attacks, and at least 45 schoolchildren and teachers were reportedly kidnapped.
The incident prompted the Oyo State government to shut schools across four local government areas as security agencies intensified rescue efforts. On 10 July, the presidency announced that the abducted schoolchildren and teachers had regained their freedom after nearly 56 days in captivity.
Why Obi says he’d have entered the forest himself
Speaking on Thursday during an interview on Afia TV’s Eastern Eye, hosted by Alex Ogbodo, Obi said decisive leadership is essential to tackling insecurity, insisting he would not have waited for weeks before taking action had the abduction occurred under his watch.
The former Anambra State governor said everyone in the camp would have been rescued, even if the operation resulted in casualties.
“But I’ll be there in two days. Is the bush not in Nigeria? That bush they went in. The bush is in Nigeria,” he said. “Everybody in that bush will come out. There might be casualties, but everybody will come out.”
Obi also criticised President Bola Tinubu over what he described as a failure to personally reach out to Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde during the more than 50-day ordeal, a claim Obi has made before, saying it was Makinde himself who told him directly, during a visit to Ibadan in early July, that no such call had taken place.
“Days of kidnap of Oyo children. The president did not call the governor. What do you mean? Fifty days,” Obi said.
He further called for greater transparency around the outcome of security operations against kidnappers.
“And it is time when we say we resolve something. We arrest some people. Parade the people. Let people see them. What is happening? When America or other countries kill people like that, they parade them. They show it. Everybody sees it. In Nigeria, everything is shrouded in secrecy,” he said.
Makinde has separately called on the United Nations and other international human rights and accountability bodies to investigate the abduction, arguing that the circumstances surrounding the incident and its resolution warrant scrutiny beyond Nigeria’s domestic institutions.
