Fifty-six days after being held in captivity, pupils and teachers abducted by Ansaru terrorists in Oyo State were rescued, not through a daring assault, but through a carefully coordinated campaign that combined intelligence, inter-agency cooperation, sustained military pressure and the systematic dismantling of the terrorists’ support network. Chiemelie Ezeobi brings an exclusive report on how, over several weeks, security forces employed intelligence preparation of the battlefield, signals intelligence, aerial surveillance, coordinated ground operations, logistics denial, security choke points, targeted arrests of key associates, and financial and psychological pressure to gradually constrict the terrorists’ freedom of movement and compel the safe release of the hostages without endangering their lives

. Says neither ransom was paid nor prisoners swapped

The pupils and teachers abducted from three schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State regained their freedom after their captors allegedly abandoned them deep inside a…