Olatunji Disu, the Inspector-General of Police, said the long period it took to rescue abducted pupils and teachers in Oyo State was because security agencies worked to ensure the victims were not in further danger.
Disu was reported to have said that security operatives avoided taking precipitate action as any wrong move could have endangered the lives of the captives the more.
The decision, he added, followed public criticism over the pace of the rescue operation.
The police chief gave the explanation during a press briefing on Thursday while addressing the abduction of pupils and teachers from schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.
In May 2026, suspected terrorists attacked two schools in the area and the victims were taken away.
The attackers reportedly fled the pupils and teachers in a vehicle belonging to one of the school officials before abandoning and burning it near the forest area.
After 56 days in captivity, the victims were finally rescued in a joint operation by security agencies.
Disu said the location of the incident, poor communication networks and limited security facilities in the area hampered the rescue mission.
He said the attackers operated in a remote community where there were few access routes and communication was almost impossible.
He said police officers, soldiers and local vigilantes joined efforts to track the abductors after the incident.
He noted that the operation came with risks, as a police officer died while chasing the criminals.
“I will tell you the story of the Ogbomosho kidnap,” he said. They came that day. They went to two schools and they kidnapped those children and their teachers.
The vehicle belonged to one of the teachers, the head teacher. When they reached the entrance of the bush where they were going, they set the vehicle on fire. We didn’t understand why they did it.
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“There’s no network at all in that area. And I think even police station far far far far away from them. But they only had one street, one road that leads to the two villages where this kidnapping happened.
“Policeman came, soldier came, vigilante came. I’m talking to you now because it’s only us here. They followed the track. We were chasing somebody who got shot.
“From that time, the Nigerian Air Force helicopter, the police helicopter, everybody were there searching day and night.
“Everybody were attacking us. Left and right. With gun safety. What is that? What’s that? We can’t come out and talk. We can’t let the children see this.
“It’s called collateral damage. People are making us. People are comparing us with other countries in the world. They wanted us to take rash decisions.
“So now, every night, your husband would come out at that time and tell you he was going to meet him. It is a fact. We were having meetings late at night about it, trying to make decisions.
“Most of this we did not come back and even tell a lot of our colleagues because we wanted to keep it secret. Parties we may have missed. There was a lot of things that happened, we could not talk about it.”
