Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
Speaking at the Government House in Ado-Ekiti during a meeting with the Ekiti State Traditional Rulers’ Council, the First Lady acknowledged the troubling security situation but insisted that Nigeria would not surrender to intimidation. “Nigeria is too great to be intimidated,” she said, according to a statement issued by her Senior Special Assistant on Media, Busola Kukoyi. She revealed that the United States, France and other developed countries were supporting Nigeria’s counter‑insurgency efforts and noted that some of the individuals behind the violence were non‑Nigerians, though she declined to provide further details, citing the sensitivity of security information. “We cannot give up on Nigeria,” she declared, assuring Nigerians that President Bola Tinubu’s administration, security agencies and international partners were working tirelessly to restore peace and stability.
Her words of optimism, however, clashed with the grim reality of the May 15 attack on Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota; Community Grammar School, Ahoro‑Esinele; and L.A. Primary School, Esiele. Coordinated gunmen on motorcycles, dressed in military camouflage, had shot sporadically as they stormed the premises, killing assistant headmaster Joel Adesiyan as he tried to escape through a window and a commercial motorcyclist who had the misfortune of passing by. The abductors later beheaded mathematics teacher Michael Oyedokun in a video that sparked national outrage. Community leaders placed the number of victims at 46, including a two‑year‑old toddler, Christianah Akanbi. Governor Seyi Makinde confirmed that seven students were taken from Community Secondary School and 18 children and seven teachers from First Baptist Primary and Nursery School. The Oyo State Police Command has repeatedly denied rumours of a rescue, stating that the victims are still in captivity and that tactical units are combing forest corridors linked to the Lake Chad basin and the Old Oyo National Park.
The attack has become a symbol of a deeper national crisis. The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education reported that more than 1,000 Nigerians had been abducted since January 2026 alone. An April 2026 security tracker cited by civil society groups estimated that at least 1,402 people were killed and 1,800 abducted nationwide between January and April. In February, a HumAngle report documented 624 deaths and 419 abductions across 28 days. The North‑West and North‑Central regions have borne the heaviest burden, but the South‑West is no longer insulated, as the Oyo school attack starkly demonstrated.
The Nigeria Union of Teachers has threatened a nationwide shutdown of basic education if another attack occurs, demanding immediate government action to secure schools. President Tinubu himself condemned the killing of the teacher as barbaric and ordered the Inspector‑General of Police to personally lead a technology‑driven rescue operation. The President also used the incident to renew his call for state police, arguing that the federal government cannot physically secure every school in a nation with 300,000 schools and fewer than 300,000 soldiers.
That argument was amplified by Nigeria’s ambassador‑designate to Mexico, Reno Omokri, who on Saturday defended the federal government against what he called emotionally driven criticism. “It is not practicable for the Federal Government to guard every school in Nigeria,” Omokri wrote on X. He noted that state governments have a primary responsibility for local security and urged governors to support the creation of state police, citing the Lagos community‑based security model as a successful example.
But for the families of the 46 abducted victims, the debate over constitutional structures offers little comfort. They have watched helplessly as their children and spouses have spent two weeks under the scorching sun and heavy rain, as the principal, Mrs. Alamu Folawe, revealed in a desperate plea video released on May 27. “The terrorists are getting impatient,” she said, her voice breaking. “We may be killed.”
The Oyo State Police Command has arrested six suspects believed to be informants who guided the attackers through the Old Oyo National Park, a 2,512‑square‑kilometre forest corridor that has become a major infiltration route for bandits fleeing military operations in the North. The Defence Headquarters has linked the attack to JAS terrorists displaced from other parts of the country. Yet two weeks later, the victims remain hidden somewhere in those vast, interconnected woodlands.
Governor Makinde has renewed his demand for state police, telling the Federal Government to “stop wasting Nigerians’ time” and empower state Houses of Assembly to create their own police structures. He described the current period as “a very tough time for me as a person and also for our state.” But he also admitted that surveillance aircraft procured by the state months ago are still being reassembled at a Nigerian Air Force hangar in Lagos and will not be operational until the end of June.
The First Lady’s visit to Ekiti coincided with the distribution of N100 million in grants to 2,000 women petty traders, each receiving N50,000 to support their businesses. It was a gesture aimed at economic empowerment at a time when households are struggling with record inflation, rising energy costs and the psychological weight of an unrelenting security crisis. But for the parents of Christianah Akanbi, the two‑year‑old who has spent her first Children’s Day in captivity, the promise that Nigeria is “too great to be intimidated” rings hollow. They do not need reassurance of greatness. They need their child back.
As the sun set over Ekiti on Saturday, the traditional rulers listened to the First Lady’s words, nodded politely, and then, through their chairman, Oba Adejimi Alagbado, delivered their own message: intensify efforts to address insecurity. The kidnapping incidents in Ekiti and elsewhere, the monarch said, demand stronger action. It was a gentle reminder that in the palaces of the South‑West, as in the ravaged villages of the North‑West and the classrooms of Oyo, the people are no longer asking for promises. They are asking for proof that the nation’s greatness can protect its smallest citizens.
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