Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
Students taking the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in parts of Oyo State affected by the recent terrorist attacks in Oriire Local Government Area have been relocated to safer communities to continue their exams. The relocation followed coordinated attacks on schools in communities including Ahoro-Esiele, Yawota, and Oko Ile, where armed terrorists abducted pupils, teachers, and residents on Friday, May 15, 2026. According to residents who spoke with reporters on Wednesday, May 20, candidates from schools attacked by gunmen have been moved to safer towns, while parents now bear additional transport and feeding costs amid growing fear and uncertainty.
Community members told SaharaReporters that students from affected public schools were moved to Ikoyi-Ile, while some private school candidates were transferred to Ogbomoso town to continue their examination. However, the arrangement has placed a heavy financial burden on families already traumatized by the attack. "They transferred them there and we are paying N3,000 for transport per student without any feeding allowance," one resident said. The students are not lodged in the new locations but return home after each paper, adding to the daily logistical strain. "They are not staying there because they always come back home after the exam. They are home now but they still have examinations next week and we don't know yet if they are going to stop them or not," the resident added.
Buses arranged by community chairmen now convey the students daily to the new examination centers and bring them back after each paper. "The chairman of the community arranged a bus that took them there," another resident explained. Speaking specifically about Ahoro-Esiele community, a resident said, "The students currently doing WAEC exams have been transferred to Ikoyi-Ile to finish their exams after the attack." A resident of the Oko Ile community confirmed the arrangement, adding that parents are required to contribute transport fares for each child. "They will also be brought back because they are not sleeping there. They got them accommodation but some children still come home if their parents wish. Meaning such parents will have to be paying for his child's transport fare," the resident said.
The relocation is a direct response to the terror that engulfed the communities on May 15. Gunmen invaded Yawota Baptist Nursery and Primary School and Community Grammar School in Ahoro-Esiele, abducting pupils, students, and school officials. In the chaos, at least two persons were killed, including a teacher who was later beheaded by his captors. According to the Oyo State Police Command, seven students, 18 pupils, and seven teachers remain missing as of Tuesday, May 19, following the attacks on schools in Oriire Local Government Area. The police spokesman, CSP Olayinka Ayanlade, said the attackers invaded the schools on motorcycles and abducted pupils and teachers during the coordinated operation.
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) had earlier assured candidates, parents, and the general public that the ongoing 2026 WASSCE for school candidates would not be disrupted by the workers-management crisis, but the terror attack has forced a localized emergency response. The 2026 WASSCE, which began on April 21, is scheduled to end on June 19, leaving affected students with weeks of uncertainty.
The relocation of candidates from public schools to Ikoyi-Ile and private school candidates to Ogbomoso follows an agreement among affected parents. "That is what every parent with a child sitting for WAEC agreed upon, that a bus will convey them together and return them after they are done," a woman in the community said. However, the new arrangement has not quelled the pervasive fear. On Wednesday, May 20, schools in Ogbomoso were largely deserted as students stayed away from classes. "We are in school but only a handful of students are around," a teacher told Ogbomoso Insight. "This is as a result of what happened yesterday when there was pandemonium over attack by terrorists which happened to be unfounded. Parents and guardians invaded schools demanding to take away their children and wards. It was hectic."
The Defence Headquarters has described the recent attacks as isolated criminal incidents, insisting that there is no established terrorist network in the South-West. The Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Michael Onoja, said earlier military clearance operations in the Old Oyo National Park had significantly weakened criminal groups operating in the area, and that intelligence reports did not support claims of any permanent terrorist base in the forests or hinterlands of the South-West. However, Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, countered that over 40 local governments in the South-West have been infiltrated by terrorists. "If you call them bandits, you are playing down the kind of criminals they are," he told The Punch. "We have many terrorists that have infiltrated those local government areas."
Governor Seyi Makinde has confirmed that seven secondary school students, 18 primary school pupils, and seven teachers were abducted during the attack, adding that one of the teachers had unfortunately been killed by the kidnappers. Describing the situation as "fluid and difficult," the governor said security operatives were still carrying out rescue operations in the area. The state government has established an operational situation room at the Oyo State Police Command headquarters to coordinate rescue efforts. He also disclosed that surveillance aircraft procured by the state had arrived in Nigeria and were being assembled at the Nigerian Air Force hangar in Lagos.
The Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, has deployed additional detectives from the Force Headquarters to collaborate with the joint security team on the ground. The deployment, according to security sources, is aimed at ensuring the rescue of the abducted persons unhurt. "More detectives have been deployed from the Force Headquarters to collaborate with the joint security operatives on the ground," a source said. "The kidnapped students and their teachers will soon breathe air of freedom as the government and the relevant security agencies are leaving no stone unturned."
Despite these assurances, parents in the affected communities remain on edge. One resident recounted the devastation left by the attacks: "Those abducted are little children. The teacher that was killed in Esiele community school is from Oko Ile community." The family of murdered schoolteacher Michael Oyedokun, who was abducted and later beheaded, described his death as deeply painful, lamenting that he died childless after over 10 years of marriage.
For the students now boarding buses each morning to continue their exams, the terror has not ended; it has merely relocated. They travel from their homes, still haunted by the memory of gunmen who turned their classrooms into hunting grounds, to sit for papers that will determine their future. And at the end of each day, they return to a community where 25 of their peers are still missing, and where the next knock on the door could be anyone's.
📩 Stone Reporters News | 🌍 stonereportersnews.com
✉️ info@stonereportersnews.com | 📘 Facebook: Stone Reporters News | 🐦 X (Twitter): @StoneReportNew | 📸 Instagram: @stonereportersnews
Add comment
Comments