‘Don’t let them waste our lives’ – Teacher
By Onibiyo Segun
(Ibadan, Oyo State) As the grip of ISIS insurgents spreads across Nigeria’s Middle Belt, Boko Haram terrorists are posting victim videos to humiliate the authorities. Nigerian police and army officials have identified the kidnappers as members of the Boko Haram (Western learning forbidden) insurgency, affiliated with the Islamic State.
In a 90-second hostage video recorded Wednesday, May 27, abducted Oyo school principal Mrs. Alamu Folaweeacher has said the captives had spent 13 days inside forest camps without shelter while children and elderly victims grew weak from hunger, rain exposure, and illness.
Folawe pleads in the video with President Bola Tinubu to rescue 46 kidnapped teachers and children before terrorists kill them.
“We have spent 13 days in the bush. Please don’t let them waste our lives.” Folawe says. Folawe, principal of Community High School Ahoro-Esinlele in the Igangan district of Ibarapa North county, spoke while seated among frightened captives in a forest clearing.
“We are here under the open sun and rain; the children are weak and some are sick,” Folawe added.
“Our captors are impatient. We beg for dialogue or rescue before blood is spilled.”
The mass abduction was staged Friday, May 15, 2026, when heavily armed terrorists stormed the school and surrounding communities, kidnapping 46 victims, including teachers, support staff, and children as young as four years old.
Security analysts told TruthNigeria that rural school raids by Boko Haram and forest-based kidnappings have increasingly shifted southward during the past two years, particularly along sparsely governed agricultural corridors connecting southwestern and north-central Nigeria.
However, security experts interviewed by TruthNigeria said the tactics – mass abduction, forest mobility, hostage videos, and execution threats – resemble methods used by Fulani terrorist cells and jihadist-aligned groups operating across north-central and northwestern Nigeria.
Days after the kidnapping, terrorists beheaded Mr. Michael Oyedokun, a 58-year-old mathematics teacher abducted alongside students and staff from the school.
His captors released a graphic execution video Sunday, May 17, escalating fear across Oyo State and signaling growing brutality among armed forest-based terrorist networks.
Another hostage video later showed armed captors displaying rifles and threatening additional killings if authorities failed to respond quickly.
The repeated release of hostage videos mirrors tactics previously used by Boko Haram and ISWAP factions in northeastern Nigeria.
Security analysts describe such videos as “psychological warfare tools designed to pressure authorities, spread fear, demonstrate territorial control, and shape public perception during negotiations.”
Teachers, Civil Society Plan Protest Over Abduction
In a related development, hundreds of teachers marched through the streets of Ibadan on May 29, holding placards reading, “Bring back our school children and colleagues back.”
The demonstration highlights growing frustration over repeated school attacks and insecurity in Oyo State.
Mrs Abosede Arapaja, a medical worker familiar with prolonged kidnapping cases warned that “dehydration, exposure, hunger, and untreated illness could rapidly worsen conditions for children and elderly captives.”
Oyo Teachers’ Union Warns Families Losing Hope
In a telephone interview with TruthNigeria, Oyo State National Union of Teachers Chairman Hassan Ajibola Fatai said families of abducted teachers and children were becoming increasingly desperate.
“We are at the edge of despair,” Fatai said.
“Every day that passes with our teachers and children in captivity is too long.” Fatai noted.
He further said, “We want concrete action, not platitudes. Their lives are precious.”
Fatai urged both state and federal authorities to intensify rescue efforts, intelligence operations, and communication with affected families.
Family Of Beheaded Teacher Demands Body
A representative of the family of Michael Oyedokun, abducted May 15 and beheaded May 17, criticized recent communications from Oyo State officials.
“There was no sympathy, no empathy, just a political message,” Isaac Oyedokun told TruthNigeria.
“All we want is the body of our beloved brother so we can give him a decent burial,” Oyedokun said.
Samuel Oyedokun said the family patriarch, now in his 80s, has struggled to eat or sleep since the killing.
Experts Warn Slow Response Encourages More Attacks
Defense and security analyst Dr. Hakeem Balogun, a former military intelligence officer based in Lagos, warned that the limited visible government response could encourage additional kidnappings.
“What is deeply troubling is that both the state and federal government do not appear sufficiently disturbed by this abduction,” Balogun told TruthNigeria.
“Life appears to be functioning normally while innocent children, women, and teachers remain in terrorist camps.” Balogun added.
Balogun said, “hostage crises require visible urgency, intelligence-led rescue planning, negotiation back-channels, and continuous communication with families.”
“Hostage situations must be treated as imminent life-and-death crises,” Balogun explained.
He noted, “Anything less emboldens these groups to escalate brutality.”
Security analysts warned that prolonged silence without visible operational activity risks increasing public panic and encouraging further school kidnappings across southwestern Nigeria.
Names Of Some Oyo Kidnap Victims
TruthNigeria confirmed the identities of multiple victims abducted May 15, 2026, from Community High School Ahoro-Esinlele and nearby communities in Igangan district based on records released by the Oyo State government.
The victims include principal Mrs. Alamu Folawe; mathematics teacher Mr. Michael Oyedokun, later beheaded by captors; Mr. Ojo Jonathan; Mr. Olatunde Zacchaeus; Mr. John Olaleye; Mary Akanbi; Rashida Tajudeen; Joshua Adeleke; Samuel Oyedele; Emmanuel Oyedele; Lydia Adewole; Deborah Adebowale; Balkis Ayanwale; Pius Stephen; Hannah Ojo; Mary Gabriel; and several other teachers, pupils, and support staff.
Onibiyo Segun reports on terrorism and conflict for TruthNigeria.
