₦airaland Forum

One of the teachers rescued after spending 56 days in the custody of kidnappers in Oyo State, Zacchaeus Olatunde, has claimed that he and the other captives were released by their abductors before security personnel eventually escorted them home.

Olatunde made the claim during a telephone interview with Nigeria Info FM aired on Friday while recounting the ordeal of teachers and pupils abducted from schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.

According to him, the captives were permanently blindfolded throughout their captivity and were unable to determine where they had been taken.

“It is difficult to say on air, but I will just say what I can. When we were there, we were blindfolded, not an ordinary blindfold. We didn’t even know if we were in Nigeria or another country. We were just there. We were saying maybe the government had even forgotten us,” he said.

He said the abductors communicated in Hausa, Nupe, English and Yoruba and insisted they were members of the Islamic State West Africa Province.

“They said they are not Boko Haram. They said they are ISWAP. I was the last person who was captured in the school and I was the last person that was released,” he said.

Olatunde said despite the uncertainty, the captives remained hopeful that prayers offered on their behalf would secure their freedom.

“All I can say is that God answered all the prayers that people were praying for us,” he said.

Describing conditions in captivity, the teacher said the kidnappers ensured they were fed twice daily but placed strict restrictions on their religious practices.

“In terms of feeding, those people really tried for us, to be sincere. Right from the day we were abducted, they told us on the way that if we cooperated and the government cooperated, there would be no problem,” he said.

He added, “We were fed twice a day, morning and evening. We ate only rice, little beans, onions, margarine and salt. Throughout our stay there, we did not taste pepper.”

According to him, teachers were unable to bathe or wash their clothes throughout the 56 days in captivity.

“For the 56 days, we the teachers did not bathe. We did not wash our clothes,” he said.

Olatunde also recalled that the kidnappers initially prohibited them from praying.

“When we got there, they told us not to pray. After about a month, they allowed us to pray, but they warned us not to mention the name of Jesus and not to pray aloud,” he said.

He said their release came unexpectedly after the kidnappers’ commander informed them they were free.

“Until the last day when their commander came and was smiling and laughing and said we should thank God that we had been freed. The next thing they said was that we should open our eyes,” he said.

The teacher narrated that because a handcuff key had broken earlier in captivity, he became the last person to leave the camp.

“When they released us, everybody had gone. They said I could not carry the handcuff home because the key had broken. One of them suggested they should cut off my hand, but another said no. They later used a small rope to remove the handcuff,” he said.

He further claimed that after he attempted to follow the others, the kidnappers’ commander recalled him at gunpoint before directing him to the correct route.

“Their commander called me back. He pointed a gun at me and said, ‘Come.’ I thought I was going to die because I was the only one left in the bush. He asked where I was going, and when I said I didn’t know, he showed me the correct route and told me to follow where the others had passed,” he said.

According to Olatunde, the former captives trekked for about an hour before motorcycles provided by the kidnappers transported them close to a nearby village.

“We trekked for about 40 minutes to one hour before they provided motorcycles that took us close to the nearest village. They later stopped and told us they could not go further, so we trekked for another one and a half hours before we got to where the government people who came to rescue us were,” he said.

The teacher said the group initially feared the security personnel they encountered because they were speaking Hausa and the buses they arrived in lacked number plates.

“When we saw the buses, we were afraid because the people were speaking Hausa. We even asked them to show us their identity cards. They kept assuring us that the government sent them.

“The buses had no number plates and had Arabic inscriptions. We were afraid they wanted to take us somewhere else,” he said.

Olatunde also recounted how he helped younger pupils cross rivers during the journey out of the forest.

“There were some children that could not walk. I carried one little girl on my neck. At the river, I used a stick to check the depth before helping the children and some adults cross safely,” he said.

He also narrated how he was captured after failing to outrun the attackers because of arthritis in his left leg.

“I had arthritis on my left leg and couldn’t run. I hid under the grass because my clothes blended with it. A student who refused to leave me looked in my direction, and that was how their commander noticed me and ordered me to stand up,” he said.

The teacher said he received medication from the kidnappers for the arthritis, claiming it unexpectedly eased the pain.

“The leg that I had spent so much money treating got better after they gave me one drug,” he added.

Olatunde further disclosed that, despite returning home safely, he had not received any financial support.

“The utmost support for now should be for my school,” he said when asked about assistance from the authorities.

The teachers and pupils were abducted in May after armed men attacked schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.

Following their release, Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde announced that the victims had regained their freedom after 56 days in captivity.

The governor also called for a UN-backed investigation into the abduction, saying Nigerians deserved a full account of the circumstances surrounding the incident, while directing that the rescued victims receive medical attention and psychosocial support.

The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said the governor’s request suggested a lack of confidence in Nigeria’s security institutions, insisting that the military and other security agencies had already provided explanations on the rescue operation.

𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎: 𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐔𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐓𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐔𝐬 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞 - 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐎𝐲𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫

Credit: X | Nigeria Info FM pic.twitter.com/mj6r3cLoEA

— Punch Newspapers (@MobilePunch) July 19, 2026

Elusive001:
May APC, Nigeria, and Tinubu happen to the supporters of evil.

I believe that ransome was paid for their release

alpharoyalty:
Hmmm. It means that ransom money was paid. Hmmm

Isobug:
Hmmmm.
This whole thing don hire person sef.
The question now is how did that soldier died. Was he killed deliberately to prove point? Sacrificial lamb? Who do we believe.
To understand Nigeria, you also need to have mastered brain teaser games. The country is so complicated with multiple intricacies

johannu:
“Until the last day when their commander came and was smiling and laughing and said we should thank God that we had been freed. The next thing they said was that we should open our eyes.

This paints a picture of the kidnappers freeing their captives, having collected huge ransom.

Anguldi:
Tinubu paid Ransome and wanted blaming Seyi Makinde 🤷‍♂️.
Makinde had to call on higher authorities and Nigerians.

Meanwhile, Hausa channels has been pointing at Emilokan as part of the terrorists network in the last two years.

WhiteIverson:
What's done in the dark will always find a way to shine. This government has done so much that when you eventually see, you might go blind.

Elusive001:
May APC, Nigeria, and Tinubu happen to the supporters of evil.

I believe that ransome was paid for their release

Lifestone:
Read before commenting, it won't hurt you. The information here aligned very well with Government position and explanation.
Let's be glad that they returned safely

ElSudani:
Irresponsible journalism. What exactly is different from the military said. Relatives of the terrorists were arrested, the location of the terrorists were found thereby forcing them to release their captives.
Where is the evidence that anything else happened?
Nigerian journalism is not competing with untrained bloggers.

Zooposki:
Yoruba man complaining about not tasting pepper throughout their captivity. Laugh don burst my belle o.

He added, “We were fed twice a day, morning and evening. We ate only rice, little beans, onions, margarine and salt. Throughout our stay there, we did not taste pepper.”

Lifestone:
The account here aligns with Government explanation. The guy died in the process of getting into the forest, not in gun battle. Government said no gun battle but the threat to eliminate the bandits family which government already arrested broke the ice

WhiteIverson:
What's done in the dark will always find a way to shine. This government has done so much that when you eventually see, you might go blind.