A teacher rescued from the mass abduction of pupils and staff in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, Zachery Olatunde, has dismissed claims that the kidnapping was staged, explaining that the pupils were wearing matching native attire because they were abducted on a Friday, the designated day for traditional wear in many schools.
Olatunde, who spent 56 days in captivity alongside 43 other victims, made the clarification in a video shared by Oyo Matters on Thursday amid growing social media speculation over photographs of the rescued pupils.
Speaking in Yoruba, the teacher said the children were wearing the same clothes they had on when armed men stormed their schools on Friday, 15 May.
“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.
Olatunde also addressed questions about the relatively neat appearance of some of the victims after weeks in captivity, revealing that their abductors occasionally washed their clothes when they became excessively dirty.
“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 see how rough and dirty we the teachers were? Didn’t they see how rough our beards were, like that of a bush rat?” he said.
The teacher firmly rejected suggestions that the abduction had been orchestrated, pointing to the deaths recorded during the ordeal as proof that the incident was genuine.
“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 added.
Appealing to the public, Olatunde urged Nigerians to stop spreading what he described as false narratives surrounding the incident.
“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 said.
The Federal Government announced on 10 July that all 44 pupils and teachers abducted 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 been rescued following a coordinated security operation.
The victims were kidnapped on 15 May when armed men attacked the three schools. During the assault, the assistant headmaster of L.A. Primary School, Joel Adesiyan, was killed while attempting to escape.
