One of the teachers rescued after spending 56 days in the custody of kidnappers in Oyo State, Zacchaeus Olatunde, has claimed that he and the other captives were released by their abductors before security personnel eventually escorted them home.
Olatunde made the claim during a telephone interview with Nigeria Info FM aired on Friday while recounting the ordeal of teachers and pupils abducted from schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.
The first-hand account of one of the teachers, however, has raised fresh questions about the federal government’s account of how the victims regained their freedom after spending 56 days in captivity.
This version of the events that led to the victims freedom, appears to differ from official accounts claiming a coordinated military rescue operation secured their release.
According to Olatunde, the captives were permanently blindfolded throughout their captivity and were unable to determine where they had been taken.
“It is difficult to say on air, but I will just say what I can. When we were there, we were blindfolded, not an ordinary blindfold. We didn’t even know if we were in Nigeria or another country. We were just there. We were saying maybe the government had even forgotten us,” he said.
He said the abductors communicated in Hausa, Nupe, English and Yoruba and insisted they were members of the Islamic State West Africa Province.
“They said they are not Boko Haram. They said they are ISWAP. I was the last person who was captured in the school and I was the last person that was released,” he said.
Olatunde said despite the uncertainty, the captives remained hopeful that prayers offered on their behalf would secure their freedom.
“All I can say is that God answered all the prayers that people were praying for us,” he said.
Describing conditions in captivity, the teacher said the kidnappers ensured they were fed twice daily but placed strict restrictions on their religious practices.
“In terms of feeding, those people really tried for us, to be sincere. Right from the day we were abducted, they told us on the way that if we cooperated and the government cooperated, there would be no problem,” he said.
He added, “We were fed twice a day, morning and evening. We ate only rice, little beans, onions, margarine and salt. Throughout our stay there, we did not taste pepper.”
According to him, teachers were unable to bathe or wash their clothes throughout the 56 days in captivity.
“For the 56 days, we the teachers did not bathe. We did not wash our clothes,” he said.
Olatunde also recalled that the kidnappers initially prohibited them from praying.
“When we got there, they told us not to pray. After about a month, they allowed us to pray, but they warned us not to mention the name of Jesus and not to pray aloud,” he said.
He said their release came unexpectedly after the kidnappers’ commander informed them they were free.
“Until the last day when their commander came and was smiling and laughing and said we should thank God that we had been freed. The next thing they said was that we should open our eyes,” he said.
The teacher narrated that because a handcuff key had broken earlier in captivity, he became the last person to leave the camp.
“When they released us, everybody had gone. They said I could not carry the handcuff home because the key had broken. One of them suggested they should cut off my hand, but another said no. They later used a small rope to remove the handcuff,” he said.
He further claimed that after he attempted to follow the others, the kidnappers’ commander recalled him at gunpoint before directing him to the correct route.
“Their commander called me back. He pointed a gun at me and said, ‘Come.’ I thought I was going to die because I was the only one left in the bush. He asked where I was going, and when I said I didn’t know, he showed me the correct route and told me to follow where the others had passed,” he said.
According to Olatunde, the former captives trekked for about an hour before motorcycles provided by the kidnappers transported them close to a nearby village.
“We trekked for about 40 minutes to one hour before they provided motorcycles that took us close to the nearest village. They later stopped and told us they could not go further, so we trekked for another one and a half hours before we got to where the government people who came to rescue us were,” he said.
The teacher said the group initially feared the security personnel they encountered because they were speaking Hausa and the buses they arrived in lacked number plates.
“When we saw the buses, we were afraid because the people were speaking Hausa. We even asked them to show us their identity cards. They kept assuring us that the government sent them.
“The buses had no number plates and had Arabic inscriptions. We were afraid they wanted to take us somewhere else,” he said.
Olatunde also recounted how he helped younger pupils cross rivers during the journey out of the forest.
“There were some children that could not walk. I carried one little girl on my neck. At the river, I used a stick to check the depth before helping the children and some adults cross safely,” he said.
He also narrated how he was captured after failing to outrun the attackers because of arthritis in his left leg.
“I had arthritis on my left leg and couldn’t run. I hid under the grass because my clothes blended with it. A student who refused to leave me looked in my direction, and that was how their commander noticed me and ordered me to stand up,” he said.
The teacher said he received medication from the kidnappers for the arthritis, claiming it unexpectedly eased the pain.
“The leg that I had spent so much money treating got better after they gave me one drug,” he added.
Olatunde further disclosed that, despite returning home safely, he had not received any financial support.
“The utmost support for now should be for my school,” he said when asked about assistance from the authorities.
His account has also reignited concerns over the reported deaths of security personnel during the operation, with many now questioning what role, if any, the military actually played in securing the victims’ release and how the officers died.
The government attributed the rescue to efforts of the security forces and local vigilantes.
The Federal Government publicly presented the victims’ freedom as the outcome of a successful security operation on July 10,
Announcing the development, President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, wrote on his social media accounts: “Finally, all the kidnapped pupils and teachers in Orire, Oyo, have been rescued by our security agencies.”
He added: “In the course of the rescue operation, eight of the kidnappers were arrested and are now in DSS custody, while some of them were neutralised.
“There was no quid pro quo in the rescue, as one of the terrorists, a kingpin whose release was demanded by the kidnappers, is being prosecuted for his atrocities. The security agencies will give a full account soon.”
