Silent crisis: 88 students, teachers remain in captivity 13 days after mass abductions

Grieving families, residents, and civil society groups have expressed deep anxiety as 88 schoolchildren and teachers abducted from Borno and Oyo states remain in captivity thirteen days after their separate kidnappings, with no communication established by the armed groups.

Thirteen days after separate mass abductions struck educational institutions in Borno and Oyo states, the victims remain in captivity with no direct contact from their abductors, severely heightening fears over their immediate health and safety. The coordinated school invasions, which occurred on Friday, May 15, 2026, sparked nationwide outrage as Nigeria marked Children’s Day amid tense appeals for emergency intervention. In the Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, Boko Haram insurgents raided Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School, forcibly seizing 42 pupils, including multiple toddlers between the ages of two and five. On the exact same day, an armed gang carrying high-caliber weapons struck Oriire Local Government Area in Oyo State, kidnapping 46 people—consisting of seven teachers and 39 students—from Community High School, Ahoro-Esinle, and Yawota Baptist Nursery and Primary School, leaving one teacher dead.

The prolonged silence from the perpetrators has inflicted severe psychological trauma on the affected farming communities, where some parents have completely stopped sending their remaining children to school out of fear. While the Borno abductors have maintained absolute silence, two brief online distress videos emerged from the Oyo axis showing the high school’s kidnapped principal, Mrs. Rachael Alamu, alongside a nursing mother pleading for a swift rescue. In response to the crisis, the Borno State Government has shut down the affected institution and relocated pupils to safer educational centers under the Safe Schools Initiative, while local vigilantes in Oyo lamented that they were outgunned by the kidnappers during initial rescue attempts. Distressed by the condition of the young captives, a mother in Borno known simply as Sarah broke down in tears, stating: “In fact, nobody has contacted us, and since the day our children were taken away, we have had no information about them. I am particularly worried about the toddlers. The toddlers are between two and five years old and can barely feed themselves. We do not know their condition or anything about their health status.”

Amidst the growing anxiety and sharp public criticism from civil society organizations over governance and intelligence failures, both federal and state authorities have insisted that serious security operations are moving forward behind the scenes. President Bola Tinubu, in his signed Children’s Day message, vowed that his administration would not rest until every abducted child is returned safely and their captors face justice, directing security agencies to sustain intelligence-led, coordinated search operations. Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State similarly reassured families of an imminent breakthrough, noting that the criminals have been surrounded in the dense forest reserves bordering Kwara State. This administrative assurance follows an emergency directive by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Olufemi Oluyede, ordering the immediate deployment of advanced military aerial surveillance assets and specialized ground troops to track down the syndicates.

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