A witness for the Department of State Services (DSS) testified on Thursday at the Federal High Court in Abuja. She told the court that members of the Ansaru terrorist group dehumanised and tortured her and 45 others. They were held for 56 days in captivity. The abduction occurred on 15 May in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State. The victims were students and teachers.
Ansaru is a splinter group of Boko Haram. It emerged in 2012. It has operated mainly in northern Nigeria, kidnapping foreigners and attacking security forces. The group’s presence in Oyo State, in the southwest, is unusual. The abduction of school pupils and teachers from the southwest signals an expansion. In 2024, security agencies warned that Ansaru was establishing cells outside its traditional strongholds. The Oyo kidnapping appears to confirm that warning.
The witness, identified as “AAA” for security reasons, testified as the first prosecution witness. She was led in evidence by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo. She said armed men invaded their schools on motorcycles. “School activities had just started when we heard gunshots,” she said. Seven teachers and 39 students were kidnapped. The attackers arrived on about 12 motorcycles, each carrying about four people. A Toyota car belonging to a teacher was also used. The vehicle, meant for five, carried about 10 in the back seat and four in the front. It was later abandoned. The victims walked barefoot into the bush.
The witness said the victims were moved to six different locations. They slept on grass under heavy rain and intense sunshine. Children as young as one and a half years old were among the captives. The kidnappers’ leader told them they were being held to negotiate the release of Ansaru members, not for ransom. On two occasions, two teachers were taken away and killed. The kidnappers used the victims’ phones to contact relatives and government officials.
Conditions were brutal. The victims suffered severe hunger and thirst. During water rationing, four people shared a single cup. The water was foul. “We had to drink the dirty water just to survive,” she said. They were fed rice, salt and palm oil. When salt ran out, rice and palm oil. When palm oil ran out, plain white rice. The kidnappers flogged children to stop them fighting over food. No one bathed or washed clothes for 56 days. The rescue came at the sixth camp. Security forces engaged the kidnappers in a gun battle and freed them. Justice Salim Ibrahim adjourned the matter to 18 September for cross-examination. The defendants remain in DSS custody.
Winners: The DSS, which secured the prosecution. The prosecution, which has a witness. Security forces, which rescued the captives. Losers: The 46 victims, who were tortured and starved. The two teachers killed in captivity. Families of the abducted. The southwest’s sense of safety, which is now shattered. The state, which failed to prevent the abduction. Nigerians who assumed Ansaru was a northern problem.
Bottom Line: Ansaru abducted 46 people from Oyo State schools and held them for 56 days. Two teachers were killed. The group said it was negotiating for its members, not for ransom. That is a political demand, not a criminal one. The southwest is now part of the battlefield.