For Professor Wole Alamu, hope has become both a plea and a burden. His wife, Mrs. Rachael Alamu, Principal of Community High School, Ahoro-Esiele in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, is among those abducted during a violent school attack on Friday, May 15, 2026.
Since that morning, life for the LAUTECH Dean has shifted into waiting; waiting for calls, waiting for updates, and waiting for a return that has not come.
Speaking on Tuesday, in another exclusive telephone interview with Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State, Prof. Alamu appealed to Nigerians to remain united in prayers and support for ongoing rescue efforts, insisting that hope must not be abandoned.
“Nigerians should not relent in praying for a peaceful resolution of the matter,” he said.
The lecturer, who had earlier expressed confidence in ongoing rescue efforts during an interview with Eagle 102.5 FM on May 20, 2026, has now intensified his appeal, calling not only for action but for national prayers and unity in seeking a resolution.
Mrs. Alamu was taken alongside teachers, pupils, and school administrators during the attack on the Oriire school axis. According to official police figures, 18 primary pupils, 7 secondary students, and 7 teachers are still missing. However, community leaders estimate that as many as 46 persons may be in captivity.
The attack also left a grim toll behind, with two teachers reportedly killed—one during the initial raid and another, identified as mathematics teacher Michael Oyedokun, while in captivity.
For Prof. Alamu, the crisis is not statistics but personal anguish. The university lecturer, who serves as Dean at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Iseyin Campus, had earlier made an emotional appeal to Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde on May 30, breaking down in tears as he called for intensified rescue efforts. He described the repeated sight of his wife in captivity videos as “disheartening and depressing.”
In one of the most recent videos released from captivity on Monday, the now pale Mrs. Alamu dismissed reports alleging religious demands by the abductors, describing them as false and urging Nigerians not to politicise the situation. She stated that the abductors were only demanding the release of certain individuals in custody and appealed for greater public attention to the plight of the victims. She also insisted that the abductees had not been harmed or subjected to any religious coercion.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Air Force says it has intensified aerial surveillance operations across affected communities in Oyo State, including Yawota and Ahoro-Esiele, as part of ongoing search-and-rescue efforts. Security agencies, including the police, Amotekun Corps, and forest guards, are also conducting coordinated ground operations aimed at tracking and rescuing the victims.
Authorities say the abductees have now spent about three weeks in captivity.
And for the husband and other families of the abductees who are at the centre of it all, each passing day has become a test of endurance held together by faith, fear, and a simple public plea that refuses to fade: that Nigerians should not stop praying.
