…Links Oyo Abduction To Long-Running National Security Breakdown
Assures Nigerians of “Final Defeat” of Criminal Network
The National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has said President Bola Tinubu inherited a long-standing and deeply entrenched kidnapping crisis, insisting that Nigeria’s current security challenges, including school abductions, predate the present administration by more than two decades.
Ribadu stated this on Sunday during a federal government delegation’s visit to Oyo State following the abduction of 46 schoolchildren and staff from a school in the state, an incident that has once again heightened national concern over school safety.
The NSA said the Oyo abduction was part of a broader pattern of insecurity rooted in years of unchecked criminal activity, stressing that banditry and terrorism-linked kidnappings have become a persistent national threat.
“Mr President is doing wonderful, strong things that will help us overcome these challenges. Most of these things we inherited them. It is not today. These evil people have been with us for two decades or more,” Ribadu said.
He maintained that the Tinubu administration was intensifying coordinated military and intelligence operations aimed at dismantling criminal networks behind kidnappings and terrorist attacks across the country.
“We will defeat evil. We will never allow them. They are on their way out, I can assure you,” he added.
The Oyo incident adds to a growing list of mass school abductions that have continued to raise concerns about the safety of educational institutions across Nigeria, despite repeated security interventions over the years.
Mass kidnappings of schoolchildren first gained global attention in 2014 following the Chibok abduction in Borno State during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Since then, similar attacks have persisted under successive administrations, including that of former President Muhammadu Buhari and the current Tinubu-led government, underscoring what analysts describe as a recurring security failure.
Security experts note that while the nature and geography of insecurity have evolved over time, the pattern of mass abductions—particularly targeting schools and rural communities—has remained a disturbing constant.
Recent data and reports have also pointed to continued incidents of kidnappings across several parts of the country, fuelling concerns over the effectiveness of current counter-kidnapping strategies.
The federal government, however, has reiterated its commitment to strengthening intelligence-driven security operations and increasing deployment to vulnerable communities in a renewed effort to curb banditry and terrorism nationwide.
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