The General Officer Commanding (GOC) 2 Division of the Nigerian Army, Chinedu Ralph-Nnebeife, a major-general, on Monday, recounted the recent rescue operation freeing 44 schoolchildren and teachers abducted in May by kidnappers in Oyo State . One of the victims, Rachael Alamu, who is the the principal of Community High School, Ahoro-Esiele, where part of the survivors were abducted, also told touchingstories of the ordeals they went through during their 56-day-long captivity.
They spoke at a ceremony for the handover of the 44 schoolchildren and teachers by the Nigerian military to the Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde on Monday.
The handover event, held at the Oyo State Government House in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, brought together Governor Makinde, state’s commissioners, senior military commanders, the police, the State Security Service (SSS), the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and other security agencies.
Military authorities described the rescue as the outcome of weeks of coordinated intelligence gathering and joint operations involving the Armed Forces, intelligence agencies, the Air Force, Amotekun Corps, local hunters and vigilantes.
The victims were abducted on 15 May, when gunmen attacked three schools in Oriire Local Government Area– Community High School, Ahoro-Esiele; Primary School, Esiele; and Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota – triggering widespread outrage and forcing teachers across Oyo State to embark on an indefinite strike.
