Yoruba Elders Praise Tinubu and Makinde for Saving Oyo School Captives and Vow to Never Yield Regional Land to Terrorists

The apex socio-cultural organization for the South-West, the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), has broken its silence on the dramatic extraction of the Oriire schoolchildren and educators, labeling the rescue a historic victory for national collaboration while warning that the region will never cede its territory to criminal cartels.

The high-powered endorsement brings immense cultural weight to the ongoing security celebrations. In an official communique issued from its national secretariat in Ibadan, the council expressed deep gratitude that the 56-day jungle captivity saga—which had kept millions of families across the country in a state of constant anxiety—finally ended without further loss of life among the surviving hostages.

The group singled out the tactical coordination displayed by the federal government, the Oyo State executive, and a massive coalition of armed forces. The complex jungle raid involved unified maneuvers by the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police Force, the Department of State Services (DSS), the Western Nigeria Security Network (Amotekun Corps), and local hunters who mapped the difficult terrain of the Old Oyo National Park.

According to the elders, targeting innocent, defenseless children inside their classrooms represents a dangerous red line that threatens the foundational stability of the region.

“The safe return of these young pupils and their dedicated educators is a victory for our collective resolve against criminality,” stated YCE Secretary-General, Chief Oladipo Oyewole. “The abduction of innocent children was a direct assault on the future of the Yoruba nation. We highly commend President Bola Tinubu for his unyielding directives to our armed forces, and Governor Seyi Makinde for his steadfast leadership throughout this grueling period. Let it be known clearly to all insurgent elements: the South-West will never surrender an inch of its ancestral land to terrorists, kidnappers, or syndicates.”

The YCE also praised the leadership of the 2 Division, Nigerian Army, and the specialized medical personnel at the Military Hospital within Odogbo Cantonment in Ibadan. The facility has been hosting the freed captives, providing them with immediate physical stabilizer treatments and critical psychological evaluations to help them handle the immense trauma of their long forest confinement. The elders urged Governor Makinde to ensure that extensive, state-sponsored trauma counseling remains available to the families long after they return to their homes.

However, the council warned that a successful rescue operation cannot be the end of the road. To prevent copycat syndicates from executing similar school invasions, the YCE is demanding an absolute overhaul of rural defense frameworks. The elders are pushing for a permanent security presence in vulnerable boundary communities, aggressive intelligence-gathering networks, and the immediate hunting down of local informants who leaked school layouts to the bandits. By putting local networks at the front line of community defense, the elders maintain that the region can permanently lock its gates against external terror.