Former Anambra State Governor and Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential aspirant, Peter Obi, has said he would have personally gone into the forest where schoolchildren and teachers abducted in Oriire, Oyo State, were held if he were President, insisting that everyone in the camp would have been brought out.
Speaking during an interview on State of the Nation with Peter Obi on Afia TV’s Eastern Eye, Obi criticised President Bola Tinubu’s handling of the abduction, alleging that the President failed to personally contact Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde during the more than 50-day ordeal.
The Oriire abduction occurred on May 15, 2026, when dozens of pupils and teachers were kidnapped in Oyo State. The victims regained their freedom after spending about 56 days in captivity following security operations in July.
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Obi said decisive leadership was essential in responding to such security challenges.
“Days of kidnap of Oyo children. The President did not call the governor. What do you mean? Fifty days.
“But I’ll be there in two days. Is the bush not in Nigeria? That bush they went in. The bush is in Nigeria.
“Everybody in that bush will come out. Everybody. There might be casualties but everybody will come out.”
The former governor also criticised what he described as the lack of transparency surrounding security operations in Nigeria, arguing that authorities should publicly present suspects arrested during anti-crime operations.
“It is time when we say we resolve something. We arrest some people. Parade the people. Let people see them.
“In Nigeria, everything is shrouded in secrecy,” he said.
Drawing from his time as governor of Anambra State, Obi said he took direct action against criminal groups operating in forests after consulting then-President Olusegun Obasanjo, insisting that criminal hideouts had to be dismantled.
He said effective leadership requires clear authority and accountability.
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“It’s either I’m in charge or you people are in charge. I go home. One person must be in charge.
“And if you’re in charge, if you want to lead, you should be ready to die. If you don’t want to, you go home. One must be in charge.”
Obi’s comments come amid renewed national debate over Nigeria’s security challenges and the government’s response to kidnapping and violent crime.
