Mrs. Rachael Alamu, the principal of the Community High School in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, has shed light on the tragic circumstances surrounding the deaths of teachers abducted by gunmen on May 15, 2026.
Following the rescue of the remaining victims after 56 days in captivity, Mrs. Alamu revealed that the kidnappers murdered the teachers as a calculated tactic to pressure the government.
According to Mrs. Alamu, the captors believed that killing the hostages would “force the hand of the government” to meet their demands.
By targeting the teachers, the gunmen sought to leverage the intense global interest in the case to coerce authorities into submission.
The two teachers identified as victims were:
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Mr. Michael Oyedokun: A Mathematics teacher who was killed on the second day of the abduction.
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Mr. Esiyan Adegboye: A 49-year-old teacher who was killed during the initial invasion of the schools.
Mrs. Alamu described the harrowing conditions the group faced during their 56-day ordeal.
The victims were held primarily in the open forest within the Old Oyo National Park, enduring harsh weather—including both rain and intense sun—with limited shelter.
While the principal noted that she was not physically assaulted, she shared that the children in the group were subjected to severe beatings whenever they cried or made noise, adding to the trauma of their experience.
“We were in the forest, in the open, most of the time, under the sun and under the rain, with the children. But we kept going because there was no way out. We knew it was only God that could help us,” she stated during her meeting with Governor Seyi Makinde at the State Government House in Ibadan.
The rescue, which was successfully executed by security forces without the payment of ransom, has brought relief to the state, though it follows a period of significant disruption that led to the closure of schools across multiple local government areas in Oyo State.
