Nation under siege as presidency turns attention to 2027 re-election

As scores of school children and their teachers remained in the hands of bandits in Oyo State on Saturday, President Bola Tinubu was in Lagos participating in the All Progressives Congress presidential primary, a stark juxtaposition that has become the defining image of a country many say is burning while its president campaigns.

The Oyo abduction is only the latest chapter in a prolonged national nightmare. From the far north to the southwest, a relentless wave of kidnappings, massacres, and state-sanctioned intimidation of citizens has gripped Nigeria in 2026, with no sign of abating.

Armed men stormed three schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State last Friday, abducting staff, students, and pupils of Baptist Nursery and Primary School in Yawota, Community Grammar School, and L.A. Primary School in Esiele, at around 9:30 a.m. Sources in the community said 46 individuals were abducted in total, seven teachers and 39 pupils and students.

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State confirmed that seven students were taken from Community Secondary School, while 18 children alongside seven teachers were kidnapped from First Baptist Primary and Nursery School.

The crisis deepened within days. Teacher Michael Oyedokun was beheaded by the bandits. A video of the murder, released by the terrorists on Sunday, May 17, sparked outrage and raised fresh alarm over the fate of those still in captivity.

As of Friday, the Oyo State Police Command confirmed the victims remained in captivity, dismissing as false and misleading social media reports claiming they had been released, and urging residents to remain calm.

Governor Makinde said his administration was willing to engage the kidnappers in dialogue if it would lead to the swift and safe release of the victims, stressing that a joint operational centre had been established at the Police Headquarters in Ibadan to coordinate rescue efforts. He nonetheless insisted the state would not surrender to terrorism.

Even as security forces worked to free the Oyo captives, gunmen struck again, abducting two more people along the Ijebu-Ode road in Ibadan’s Oluyole Local Government Area just five days after the school raids.

Kwara and Katsina: A Massacre That Shook the Nation

The Oyo crisis follows one of the bloodiest single attacks Nigeria has seen in recent memory. In early February, gunmen stormed the community of Woro in Kwara State on a Tuesday evening, killing at least 170 people, while a further 21 people were killed in a separate attack in Katsina, with gunmen murdering residents as they moved from house to house.

The Kwara attack was carried out after village residents rejected militants’ demands to adopt their version of Sharia law. The attackers torched homes, shops, and the palace of the traditional king, and abducted dozens of residents. The massacre continued until the early hours of the following morning; soldiers arrived an hour after the attackers had fled.

In the aftermath, 78 bodies were given a mass burial, comprising 75 males and three females, while 35 residents were confirmed abducted and taken into the bush.

Those Kwara villagers 176 in total. remained in captivity for over three months, even as Tinubu’s government repeatedly promised their rescue.

The Wider Pattern: A Country Haemorrhaging Lives

Kwara and Oyo are not outliers. In late January 2026, more than 160 worshippers were abducted in separate attacks, and on February 3, an armed group attacked two Muslim-majority villages in Kwara State, killing over 160 people and abducting dozens.

In January, gunmen stormed three churches in Kaduna State and abducted at least 166 worshippers during a morning service. In March, more than 400 people were seized in Ngoshe, Borno State.

A report by geopolitical research firm SBM Intelligence found that 2,938 people were kidnapped in the Northwest region alone between July 2024 and June 2025, over 60 percent of reported incidents nationwide. Zamfara State recorded the highest number at 1,203 abductions, followed by Kaduna with 629, Katsina with 566, and Sokoto with 358.

Opposition parties and civic groups have questioned the effectiveness of Tinubu’s much-publicised declaration of a state of emergency on security in November 2025, noting that the continued wave of mass killings suggests the measures were either ineffective or merely rhetorical.

The Justice Crack Affair: When the State Silences Its Critics

Compounding public outrage over the security crisis is a separate controversy that many Nigerians see as equally troubling, the military’s treatment of a citizen who dared to speak up for suffering soldiers.

Social media influencer Justice Mark Chidiebere, known as “Justice Crack,” was last seen on April 28, 2026, after leaving home for what he told his wife was a meeting, following a phone call. His phones were switched off, and no security agency initially confirmed they had him in custody.

Reports and video evidence subsequently emerged suggesting Justice Crack had been abducted by the Nigerian Army and subjected to torture including being chained to a tree under the scorching sun for over 72 hours. His family said he had become a target because he exposed the alleged brutal murder of a civilian by soldiers, and had highlighted the poor welfare conditions faced by rank-and-file troops.

The Nigerian Army eventually confirmed the arrest, accusing Chidiebere of attempting to incite soldiers and plotting “subversion” against the military high command. The Army claimed his engagement with military personnel went beyond welfare concerns and that he was cultivating “vulnerable personnel” to create discontent within the ranks. Legal experts noted that if Chidiebere had committed a crime, the standard procedure would have been to report him to the Nigeria Police Force for a formal arrest not a covert military detention. Under the Nigerian Constitution and the Armed Forces Act, the military has no legal authority to detain or torture civilians.

A Federal High Court in Abuja granted him bail on May 18, 2026, in the sum of N5 million. He was subsequently freed from DSS detention after nearly four weeks in custody, facing prosecution over alleged cybercrime offences linked to his viral videos about the Nigerian Army.

The case has drawn widespread condemnation from human rights groups and opposition figures, who say it reflects a government growing increasingly intolerant of accountability.

Tinubu Condemns, Then Campaigns

President Tinubu condemned the killing of the abducted Oyo teacher as barbaric and pledged that the federal government would collaborate with the state to rescue the victims. He stated that the Inspector-General of Police was personally overseeing rescue operations following directives from the presidency, and that tactical squads and the Intelligence Response Team had been deployed to the area.

But on Saturday — with 46 hostages still unaccounted for in Oyo, the president and his wife, Oluremi, participated in the APC presidential primary at Ward E, Ikoyi, Lagos, as part of the party’s nationwide ward-level primaries through which Tinubu is seeking re-nomination as the APC’s flagbearer for the 2027 presidential election. He polled 4,996 votes at Ward L2 in Eti-Osa Local Government Area, recording a landslide victory.

Speaking after voting, Tinubu described the primaries as a strong demonstration of internal democracy and reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to good governance and policies to improve the welfare of Nigerians.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was unsparing in his criticism. “At a time when armed criminals are abducting schoolchildren, slaughtering innocent citizens, and turning communities into graveyards, President Tinubu’s response remains the same tired ritual: condemn the killings, threaten the perpetrators will face the ‘full wrath of the law,’ and then wait for the next massacre,” he said.

The president himself had framed the security crisis in political terms as recently as April 30, 2026, declaring in a national broadcast: “My enemies want to use insecurity in the country to get rid of me. But I’m a stubborn politician who refuses to go, and I will campaign for my second term.” Critics noted he made no announcement of a new military strategy and summoned no security chiefs for accountability.

As of the time of filing this report, the 46 Oyo hostages among them primary school children and their teachers remained unaccounted for. No timeline has been given for their rescue.