Tinubu finally speaks on Oyo school rescue, reveals kidnappers were foreigners

President Bola Tinubu finally broke his silence on the rescue of the 44 pupils and teachers kidnapped from three schools in Oriire local government area of Oyo State back on 15 May. During a meeting with traditional rulers led by the Olubadan of Ibadan land, Oba Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja at the State House Abuja on Thursday, the President confirmed that some of the terrorists involved were not Nigerians, though he did not name their countries. He linked the worsening security situation to the crisis in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger Republic.

The President was emphatic that his administration refused to negotiate with the criminals or pay ransom. He confirmed that one of the kidnappers' conditions was the release of their detained gang members. In his words: "These criminals want make we review the release from detention, members of their criminal gangs wey we don already arrest. That na one of their conditions, apart from the money dem dey find. And I say, 'no deal,' we no go negotiate with criminals. Dem commit murder and we dey ready to finish dem."

This is significant because it is the first time the President has publicly addressed how the victims were freed, 56 days after their abduction. The government also secured life sentences for three men, Abdulrazak Umar alias Abu Khalifa, Yunusa Musa, and Shamsu Adamu Sani, who pleaded guilty to hiding information about the kidnapping. The DSS has also arraigned five more suspects on terrorism and murder charges, with their case adjourned to 24 September.

Beyond the rescue, Tinubu announced an expansion of the Nigerian Army from eight to twelve divisions, retraining of forest guards to chase criminals instead of antelopes, and plans for state police with guardrails against abuse. He said: "We don equally embark upon wetin bin dey miss for many years sake of fears and uncertainty about wetin to do about security for the local level. We go correct am. State police go dey, and the state police go get guardrails against abuse." Governor Seyi Makinde has also procured two surveillance aircraft to boost intelligence gathering across the state.

My question is this: if the government knew the geography of the forests and had the capacity all along, why did it take 56 days to free those children? And if some of the terrorists are foreigners, what is the government doing to seal our borders against this regional spillover?