One of the teachers freed after 56 days in captivity, Zacchaeus Olatunde, has alleged that the kidnappers voluntarily released him and other hostages before security forces arrived to escort them home.
Olatunde made the revelation during a telephone interview with Nigeria Info FM on Friday, while recounting the ordeal of teachers and pupils abducted from schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State in May 2026.
The captives were kept blindfolded throughout their detention in what they believed was a forest, with no clear sense of their location. “We didn’t even know if we were in Nigeria or another country,” Olatunde said.
He added that the abductors identified themselves as members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), not Boko Haram, and communicated in Hausa, Nupe, English, and Yoruba.
Despite harsh conditions, including being denied baths or clean clothes for the entire period and initial restrictions on praying the kidnappers fed them
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