Oyo school kidnap: We can’t risk more lives in rescue efforts — Soun

THE Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Ghandi Olaoye, has said that security authorities are adopting a cautious approach in responding to the abduction of students and teachers from three schools in the Ahoro-Esinle and Yawota communities of Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State. 

Speaking during an interview on Arise TV, he referenced the killing of one of the abducted teachers by the kidnappers amid attempts to track them down, saying that the tragic incident underscored the need for restraint and careful coordination among security agencies.

Oba Olaoye, who explained that he was not in the country when the incident happened, said: “We see a lot of comments on social media; people should understand that these terrorists slaughtered one of the teachers on live video.

“This is something we have not experienced before; it is what we saw with another group outside of the country. So, that tells us the people we are dealing with. For a teacher to be slaughtered like that, where you have children who have been abducted, people’s mothers, people’s fathers, people’s children.

“If the military, police, or whoever goes after them, they will surely kill more people who have been abducted and there would be uproar. When some of our vigilantes and the people got close to them, not so sure whether soldiers were there or policemen, they detonated an Improvised Explosive Device, IED and about 10 people were wounded.”

He pointed out that security remained a priority for traditional rulers.

He said: “The resources that we had, we channeled it towards the town’s security, we employed 30 vigilantes to watch over the town. But unfortunately, this didn’t happen within the confines of Ogbomoso town, which is called Ogbomoso North, Ogbomosho South local government. It happened on the outskirts of it.

“Oriire local government is the second largest local government in Nigeria; it is a vast land with over 500 small settlements, like the one that was where the abduction of the people happened. It becomes a little bit difficult to manage that vast land.”