Image caption: Commander Omowale VGN boss Oriire LG A
Oriire abduction: VGN seeks compensation for fallen members, recounts how ‘we defied bombs and wasted several bandits’ (see photos)
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Femi OGUNLANA
The echo of the May 15, 2026 abduction by bandits, of teachers and children from three schools in Oriire local government area of Ogbomoso Oyo state, the slaying of some teachers and the eventual safe rescue of the 44 remaining victims after 56 days have continued to reverberate even as new angles continue to evolve. It was a saga that shook the whole nation as if banditry and kidnapping just occurred in the country; none ever seized the soul of the nation like this one. Perhaps because it involved 32 nursery and primary school pupils including one-year olds, seven junior secondary school students, one (female) principal, two vice principals and six class teachers (including that of a primary school). The three schools attacked by the bandits (members of the Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimeena Fi Biladis Sudan (Ansaru, an extremist faction historically associated with terrorist activities in Nigeria) are Baptist Nursery and Primary School (a private school), Yawota; Community Grammar School, Ahoro Esinele; and L.A. Primary School.
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In all, ten persons lost their lives, including three teachers, one motorcyclist (passing by), three government security operatives, and three members of local security agencies including two Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN) – Yoda Salih and Ayuba Rafiu and one hunter (belonging to Soludero group) members.
A fallen VGN member
Killed in combat
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Unfortunately, however, so far, no government or group has looked their direction in terms of commendation or assistance especially of those who fell in combat. While the Senate has announced compensation of N10m each for the families of two teachers and three security operatives under government, the others are ignored though perhaps due to lack of information on them.
Overwhelmed by pestering from the families of his members “dropped” by the bandits on the second day of the incident when his team engaged them, a leader of the VGN in Oriire local government area, Saka Waheed Omowale, has appealed to governments and public-spirited individuals to come to their aids too, saying his men died gallantly in the service to the nation too in a bid to combat terrorism and prevent it from taking roots in this axis of the country.
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Omowale speaking at a programme organized Wednesday by a subset of the University of Ibadan in Ogbomoso at which the victims of the abduction were given financial support totaling N6m (six million naira), disclosed he was beckoned on by the people of the affected communities after the incident informing him that one of the hunters who earlier pursued the bandits had suffered casualty following the attack on them with improvised explosive dynamites (IEDs), which blew him up.
“After the incident and I was called upon to help in the rescue operation, I quickly mobilized our operatives though I had no family member in Yawota or Esinele. They said some hunters initially pursued them and we learnt they bombed them but I told them that if my team goes there, the attackers’ bombs would be deactivated and cease to detonate by the grace of God.”
That was how the VGN joined the rescue operation with nothing but their courage. “We launched an expedition into the vast forest and we soon tracked them. We didn’t know they were so many, we had only a few bullet, but we engaged them, they dropped two of my boys, however we wasted so many of them. Our bullets getting exhausted made us retreat initially because we never knew they were so many. We came back home, but before we returned, government security agencies had arrived and so we couldn’t do much again but we remained in the frontline.”
Omowale explained that after his boys were killed, he approached Oriire local government chairman to send delegates to commiserate with the families of the operatives who died in action but that the appeal was never heeded highlighting the dire condition under which they operate as volunteers. He added they faced hunger in the bush, bought provisions for themselves and called for payment of compensation to the families of the fallen local security agents too.
“Along the line, I pleaded with our council chairman to send delegation to sympathize with the families of my members who passed away and identify with them but up till now nobody has come. And when we heard of the N10m compensation awarded by the Senate, their families thronged my residence and office pressuring me why their breadwinners killed were not captured.
“It must be stated that we suffered in the bush, no provisions, we catered for ourselves, at times six of us would live on only N300 worth of bread and a bottle of soft drink for days and we spent days stalking the bandits to ensure they didn’t escape. I can’t start mentioning the suffering we faced. But the families continue to pester me.”
During a chat with ogbomosoinsightonline.com, he maintained the urgent need for assistance to not only VGN but all local security agencies defending the land against criminals. He said their presence was very vital in the rescue operation. When asked to comment on the insinuation that conventional security agencies often rely on local security operatives when on such mission he refrained from talking but submitted that the local defenders remain the mainstay. “When things become tough and dire our gallantry often manifests and we become the last men standing.”
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He assured that as long as they receive support Ogbomosoland would not be overrun by bandits. “We are equal to the task, our forefathers didn’t lose the land, and we won’t and our children wouldn’t in the future,” he said confidently, while commending the government’s security agencies’ efforts in the whole saga and the strategies they deployed in ensuring the safe rescue.
Asked about how the release of the victims unfolded he said only government officials were privy to that but informed they still engaged and mowed down some of the criminals after the victims showed up.
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