The reported rescue of 49 school children and teachers kidnapped May 15 from schools in Orire, a part of Oyo State, is good news and bad. Good because it’s one of the rarest success stories in the long drawn war against kidnappings in particular and insecurity in general. It’s also bad news because it shows the true face of the government in this anti terror campaign: a face as ugly as that of the evil that stalks our land.
First, the good part. A news report quoting the state governor Mr. Makinde describes the rescue operation on June 3, involving the army, police and 1000 armed foresters as “daring.” According to the report, President Bola Tinubu personally ordered the special operation, certainly, the first of its kind. Intelligence provided by local hunters and advanced drone surveillance is said to have played a key role in locating the bandits’ hideout deep in the forest. Eyewitnesses reported wild scenes as the children, aged between 2 years and 16, were reunited with their parents. One rescued teacher, whose colleague was beheaded during the attack, described their ordeal as “hell on earth” but praised the bravery of the security operatives. President Tinubu is said to have congratulated the security agencies, describing the operation as “a turning point in our fight against banditry.” He also announced immediate support packages for the affected families and schools. To give this a proper perspective, the president acted only after the national teachers union had called a nationwide strike June 1 in a show of solidarity and to force the government’s hand.
Now, the bad news. The government clearly prioritized this Orire incident over similar attacks in schools in other parts of the country like Niger, Katsina and Kaduna states that, individually, have recorded more school kidnappings of late. But no spectacular rescue operations such as has happened in Oyo State were ordered. Some say the president acted this time the way he did because the victims were Yoruba just as he is. “These are my blood and flesh,” Tinubu must have reasoned. Too bad if this is what has happened. Because it would have confirmed the suspicion that Tinubu has come to “Yorubanize” the federal government. People who make this accusation point to the very many top posts the president has reserved for his kinsmen like the CBN governor, head of the army, arguably the fourth largest in Africa, heads of the Police, EFCC and BPE as well as the accountant general of the federation. The charge may appear unfair because many equally influential positions have gone to, say, the North such as the minister of defence and national security adviser etc. Still the fact sticks that Tinubu has flooded the federal bureaucracy with his Yoruba tribesmen.
Another thing not so palatable about the Orire rescue operation said to be daring is that it raises too many unanswered queries such as what happened to the kidnappers? Were they all “neutralized” as the army would say? Were there some arrests? This last question is important because we would then know their identity. Banditry and kidnapping for long have been attributed to Fulani herders, even when they occur in places far from where they live and rear their animals. Because the nomads move from place to place it’s easier to say they are the ones responsible for the violence. But it is also true that this wrongful profiling has given evil people the cover they want to commit crime. Therefore, it’s important we know the true identity of those gunmen who took away 42 pupils and seven of their teachers on May 15. Are they Fulani or Yoruba? This will help unmask the real criminals.
