One of the teachers rescued from the mass abduction of pupils and school staff in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, Zachery Olatunde, has dismissed claims circulating on social media that the kidnapping was staged, explaining that the pupils were wearing matching native attire because they were abducted on a Friday, when such clothing is officially worn in schools.
Olatunde, who spent 56 days in captivity alongside 43 other victims, made the clarification in a video shared by Oyo Matters, saying critics had misrepresented the circumstances surrounding the pupils’ appearance after their rescue.
Addressing claims that the children’s coordinated Ankara outfits suggested the abduction was orchestrated, the teacher said the pupils were simply wearing the same clothes they had on when gunmen attacked their schools on May 15.
“They said the children were wearing matching ankara. Are they not in Oyo State? Don’t they know that the government has ordered that schoolchildren should be wearing native attires on Friday?
“Primary school pupils in private schools now wear native wears on Friday. We the teachers wore native attire, but secondary school pupils wore school uniform,” he said.
He also responded to another claim questioning why some of the victims did not appear excessively dirty despite spending nearly two months in the forest.
According to Olatunde, the kidnappers occasionally washed the captives’ clothes whenever they became too filthy.
“The abductors are the ones that wash the clothes for us a few times while we were in captivity, when they notice that we are already smelling. Don’t they (critics) see how rough and dirty we the teachers were? Didn’t they see how rough our beards were, like that of a bush rat?” Olatunde said.
The teacher described allegations that the entire incident had been staged as insensitive and disrespectful to the victims, pointing out that lives were lost during the ordeal.
“Those saying the kidnapping was staged don’t know what they are saying. If it was staged, would they have killed two people? If it was staged, what we went through in that place was not good at all,” he said.
He appealed to Nigerians to stop spreading false narratives about the incident, insisting that the abduction was real and traumatic for everyone involved.
“So those that are saying it was staged are all telling lies. It was not staged. It was real. So please stop saying those types of things,” he added.
The Federal Government announced on July 10 that all 44 pupils and teachers kidnapped from Community Grammar School, Baptist Nursery and Primary School, and L.A. Primary School in the Esiele and Yawota communities of Oriire Local Government Area had regained their freedom following a coordinated security operation.
The victims were abducted on May 15 when heavily armed gunmen invaded the three schools.
During the attack, the Assistant Headmaster of L.A. Primary School, Joel Adesiyan, was shot dead while attempting to escape, while a Mathematics teacher, Michael Oyedokun, was later killed by the kidnappers during the victims’ prolonged captivity.
The rescue operation was carried out through a joint effort involving the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police Force, the Department of State Services, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Amotekun Corps and local vigilante groups.
The Presidency has maintained that all the victims were rescued through security operations without the payment of ransom or any concession to the kidnappers.
(Ripples)