IBADAN — The Presidency has strongly pushed back against growing public criticism over the disparity in the speed of security responses to high-profile kidnappings in Oyo State.
The defense follows the dramatic, high-stakes tactical rescue of Mrs. Olaide Busayo Adegoke John-Paul—the younger sister of former Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu—and her 12-year-old twin sons, Peter and Paul. The trio was liberated by operatives of the Force Intelligence Department’s Intelligence Response Team (FID-IRT) on Saturday night, June 6, 2026, just three days after their abduction in Ibadan. During the intense gun duel, security forces neutralized two suspects and recovered multiple firearms.
However, the speed of this operation has sparked intense public outrage and skepticism, as Nigerians draw sharp contrasts with the ongoing captivity of 39 schoolchildren and several teachers. The school victims were abducted on May 15, 2026, during coordinated terrorist raids across three schools in the Oriire Local Government Area near Ogbomoso.
Urban Gangs vs. Deep-Forest Terrorists
Reacting to the public backlash, Dada Olusegun, the Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Social Media, stated that comparing both security scenarios is “totally wrong” and fails to account for the fundamentally different operational challenges.
According to Olusegun, the rescue of the Adelabu family was facilitated by the fact that it involved an urban syndicated gang. The criminals had confined the victims inside a residential flat within a populated community in Ibadan, allowing law enforcement to deploy precise surveillance and localized tactical interventions.
Conversely, the Ogbomoso incident involves highly sophisticated terrorists operating deep within the treacherous, vast terrain of the Old Oyo National Park forest, which borders Kwara State.
”The Ogbomoso children and their teachers will be rescued, and government or security agencies are not selective, as falsely claimed,” Olusegun asserted. “The approach to the two incidents can’t be the same.”
High Collateral Risks in Ogbomoso
The Presidency’s stance aligns with recent warnings issued by local stakeholders regarding the severe dangers of a rushed military assault in the forest. Traditional rulers, including the Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye, have recently urged caution, noting that the terrorists have heavily fortified their forest strongholds. Local vigilantes who attempted to close in on the territory were met with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) that injured at least ten personnel.
Furthermore, the Ogbomoso captors have already demonstrated extreme brutality, having beheaded a mathematics teacher, Michael Oyedokun, on video to terrorize the public and enforce rigid ideological demands. Security experts warn that an uncoordinated frontal sweep could result in catastrophic collateral damage to the captive children, some of whom are as young as two years old.
While urging Nigerians to celebrate the safe return of Mrs. Adegoke and her twin sons, the presidential aide heavily criticized those trying to politicize national security misfortunes, describing the narrative of selective rescue urgency as “soulless.”
The federal government maintains that extensive intelligence operations, backed by Nigerian Air Force surveillance assets, are continually active in the region to guarantee that the Ogbomoso students and educators are returned alive.
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For deeper context on the complexities facing security forces in the forest terrain, you can watch this Arise News report on the Ogbomoso military rescue risks. This video features an interview detailing how hidden IEDs and the threat of immediate collateral damage prevent a straightforward tactical assault on the Ogbomoso captors.
