Nigeria woke up to a wave of coordinated protests today as the Nigeria Labour Congress, the
Nigerian Union of Teachers, civil society organisations and student bodies poured into the
streets of Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, Ogun, Plateau, Kaduna, Kano, Akwa Ibom and other states,
demanding the immediate release of teachers and pupils kidnapped by bandits in Oyo and
Borno.
The trigger is an abduction crisis that has been festering for nearly three weeks with little visible
federal response. On May 15, gunmen attacked Baptist Nursery and Primary School in Yawota,
Community Grammar School in Esiele, and L.A. Primary School in Ogbomoso and Oriire, in
Oyo State, dragging away more than 40 teachers, pupils and secondary school students. On
the same day, in a separate but equally brazen raid, 42 schoolchildren were taken from Mussa
Ward in Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State.
The captives are still in the bush. Their families are still waiting. The patience of the country, as
today’s protests made plain, has run out.
In Oyo, NUT shut down schools across the state and led a mass procession to the State
Government Secretariat. Protesters converged at the NLC Secretariat in the American Quarters
area of Ibadan, where the State NLC Chairman, Comrade Olukayode Martins, addressed
members on what he called ‘a moment of national shame.’ Students under the banner of the
National Association of Nigerian Students marched alongside teachers, an unusual coalition
that signals how broadly the crisis has cut.
The Christian Association of Nigeria has formally called on President Bola Tinubu to declare a
state of emergency on insecurity. Northern lawmakers, who have spent years calling for tougher
action on bandits, repeated the demand. Critics inside and outside the National Assembly say
the federal security architecture is failing in plain sight, and that high-profile naval reviews and
presidential speeches are no substitute for bringing kidnapped children home.
President Tinubu is now back in Abuja after spending the Eid-el-Kabir period in Lagos, where he
commissioned three new naval vessels and inaugurated the Gulf of Guinea Combined Maritime
Task Force. The contrast is hard to miss. While the government has been pitching maritime
security wins to international partners, the schools in the heartland have been emptying at
gunpoint.
Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has called on Nigerians to set politics aside, describing the
abductions as ‘a time of national distress.’ His office says joint federal-state efforts are
underway. Borno Governor Babagana Zulum, already managing a parallel cholera outbreak that
has killed at least 37 people and infected over 3,000, is under pressure on multiple fronts.
Protesters today were unambiguous in their message. They want the children and teachers
freed unconditionally. They want the masterminds arrested. They want a clear federal plan for
securing schools in vulnerable communities, not another round of condolence statements.
The political risk for the Tinubu administration is sharpening. The 2027 election cycle is already
in motion, and security has consistently polled as the single biggest concern among Nigerian
voters. Failure to recover the abducted, or to credibly explain what is being done to recover
them, would hand the opposition a ready-made indictment.
For now the streets are loud, the schools in Oyo are closed, and the families in Yawota, Esiele,
Ogbomoso, Oriire and Askira-Uba are still counting days.
