Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential aspirant and former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, has declared that he would have personally gone into the forest where abducted pupils and teachers from Oriire, Oyo State, were held if he were President, insisting that everyone in the camp would have been brought out.
Obi also criticised President Bola Tinubu’s handling of the mass abduction, alleging that the President failed to personally contact Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde during the more than 50 days the victims spent in captivity.
He made the remarks during an interview on State of the Nation with Peter Obi on Afia TV’s Eastern Eye, hosted by Alex Ogbodo and aired on Thursday.
The Oriire abduction occurred on May 15, 2026, when dozens of pupils and teachers were kidnapped in Oyo State. The victims spent about 56 days in captivity before security operatives rescued them in July.
Speaking on the incident, Obi insisted that swift and decisive leadership was needed to confront insecurity.
He said, “Days of kidnap of Oyo children. The President did not call the governor. What do you mean? Fifty days.
“But I’ll be there in two days. Is the bush not in Nigeria? That bush they went in. The bush is in Nigeria.
“Everybody in that bush will come out. Everybody. There might be casualties but everybody will come out.”
Obi also condemned what he described as the culture of secrecy surrounding security operations, arguing that Nigerians deserve to see the results whenever criminal suspects are apprehended.
“And it is time when we say we resolve something. We arrest some people. Parade the people. Let people see them. What is happening?
“When America or other countries kill people like that, they parade them. They show it. Everybody sees it.
“In Nigeria, everything is shrouded in secrecy,” he said.
Recalling his time as governor of Anambra State, Obi said he confronted criminal hideouts in forests after consulting then-President Olusegun Obasanjo, insisting that such camps had to be dismantled.
He added that several notorious criminals were eliminated during security operations under his administration, stressing that effective leadership demands courage, accountability and clear authority.
“No way. It’s either I’m in charge or you people are in charge. I go home. One person must be in charge.
“And if you’re in charge, if you want to lead, you should be ready to die. If you don’t want to, you go home. One must be in charge,” Obi added.
