Former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin (retd.), has disclosed that the Department of State Services, DSS, deserved greater recognition for its pivotal intelligence role in securing the release of 46 teachers and pupils abducted from schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.
In a statement issued on Monday, Petinrin said public attention had largely focused on other security agencies involved in the rescue effort, while the intelligence work carried out by the DSS and other members of the intelligence community received little acknowledgement.
According to the retired military chief, “information that emerged after the victims regained freedom indicated that the abductees were released by their captors rather than through direct military action.”
Petinrin said testimony from one of the released victims suggested that the kidnappers informed their captives they were being freed after members of the kidnappers’ families had been identified, arrested and their videos forwarded to those holding the victims.
“The Oriire kidnap victims’ release was already being credited to the military until one of the released victims told the true story: they were released by the kidnappers, and no kinetic action was involved in that release,” he said.
He added that identifying the kidnappers and tracing their relatives required extensive intelligence gathering, attributing that aspect of the operation to the DSS and other intelligence agencies working behind the scenes.
“How were the kidnappers identified and their relatives traced to their various places of abode? That was the work of the DSS and the
