OYO STATE, Nigeria – Nigerian activist Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, threatened on Wednesday to release the names of politicians sponsoring the bandits responsible for abducting students in the Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.
Okay News reports that Adeyemo issued the warning while addressing the new executive members of the National Association of Nigerian Students, led by Akinteye Babatunde, at his residence in the Soka area of Ibadan.
The statements were recorded in a video broadcast by Wisdom TV. Adeyemo stated that politicians are providing kidnappers with weapons and funding to destabilize the administration of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu. “If I am permitted to burst into the hideouts, they will flee. They are neither gnomes nor mannequins; they are humans, so that they could be dislodged. I know the politicians behind them, and if they do not stop perpetrating their evil acts, I will mention them all. I know them. The politicians behind them are the ones giving them ammunition and money,” Adeyemo said.
The abduction occurred on May 15, when attackers targeted Baptist Nursery and Primary School in Yawota, Community Grammar School in Esiele, and L.A. Primary School, capturing at least 45 pupils. According to a teacher at the Yawota school, Elizabeth Olagoke, the kidnappers spoke Yoruba, Hausa, and Pidgin English.
Adeyemo claimed the Oyo State Government, led by Governor Seyi Makinde, rejected his offer to rescue the 47 total captives. “Later, they (Oyo government) informed me that the kidnappers said if I try to force myself to come rescue the children, they will kill them all. If they are serious about rescuing the victims, they should tell my boys and me to chase them out of the forests in our regions and see if those people will remain there even with their bombs and sophisticated weapons,” he said.
The activist recently received approval from the Federal Government of Nigeria to operate a private security network named Iru Ekun Security Network. A video released on Sunday showed that one of the abducted teachers, Michael Oyedokun, had been beheaded by the kidnappers.
