(abducted students. Photo Credit: Instagram)
Senator Abdulfatai Buhari, representing Oyo North Senatorial District, has shed light on the circumstances surrounding the abduction of students and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, revealing that the attackers allegedly conducted advance surveillance of the targeted communities before striking.
Speaking in a television interview, the senator explained that the gunmen operated across two communities Yawota and Esiele located approximately five to eight minutes apart by road.
They first struck in Yawota, abducting nine students, before moving to Esiele and then returning to Yawota to seize additional students and teachers.
During the attacks, one teacher was shot while attempting to escape through a window, and a commercial motorcyclist was also shot after the attackers allegedly mistook him for someone giving chase.
Buhari noted that the affected schools are small, consisting of only a few classrooms and situated in remote rural areas, making them particularly vulnerable to such attacks.
He also recounted a telling detail that pointed to pre-attack surveillance.
A local woman who sold beans and bread in one of the communities had recorded unusually high sales between N10,000 and N20,000 daily in the two days leading up to the abduction, compared to her normal daily earnings of around N1,000.
Unaware of any cause for alarm, she attributed it to good business and did not flag the unusual activity to community leaders or school authorities.
It was later established that the customers had allegedly been members of the kidnapping gang conducting reconnaissance ahead of the operation.
The senator used the account to stress the critical importance of community vigilance and timely reporting of suspicious activity to authorities, arguing that such information could make the difference in preventing future attacks on vulnerable communities.
