The General Officer Commanding (GOC) 2 Division, Nigerian Army, Major General Chinedu Nnebeufe, has disclosed how security forces successfully rescued the abducted pupils and teachers from Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, revealing that the operation relied on ground troops after aerial surveillance proved ineffective.
Speaking while handing over the rescued victims to Governor Seyi Makinde on Monday, the senior military officer explained that the kidnappers had hidden the victims deep inside a dense forest where drones and aircraft were unable to detect their location.
According to him, the thick vegetation prevented aerial surveillance from locating the captives.
“We opted to use ground operations to rescue the abducted schoolchildren because the aircraft and drones we deployed during the operation could not locate them. If you’re under that place, you can’t even see rays of sunlight,” he said.
Major General Nnebeufe disclosed that the rescue mission came at a heavy cost, with two soldiers losing their lives while several others sustained injuries during the operation.
He added that one of the wounded soldiers suffered a broken arm after being hit by gunfire.
“During one of the operations, we lost two soldiers, and some others were wounded. One of them has a broken arm due to a gunshot wound,” he said.
The GOC also revealed that he personally assumed command of the operation and received additional support from the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, who deployed personnel from the National Counter-Terrorism Centre to reinforce the mission.
According to him, security agencies also mounted coordinated intelligence operations by identifying and tracking relatives and associates of the kidnappers across several states, including Adamawa and Kano, as part of efforts to pressure the terrorist group.
“We looked for members of the terrorists’ team and members of their families in Adamawa, Kano and different parts of the country and got them, and this put pressure on the terrorists,” he added.
The operation eventually led to the successful rescue of the abducted pupils and teachers after they spent 56 days in captivity, bringing an end to one of Oyo State’s most high-profile kidnapping incidents in recent months.
