One of the teachers rescued after spending 56 days in the custody of kidnappers, Zachery Olatunde, has responded to claims circulating online that the abduction of pupils and teachers from Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State was staged.
According to Olatunde, the kidnappers occasionally washed the captives’ clothes whenever they became too dirty and smelly, a practice he said has been wrongly interpreted by some social media users as evidence that the victims were never held in captivity.
He made the remarks in a video shared by Oyo Matters on Thursday, a few days after security operatives rescued him alongside 43 other victims abducted from three schools in the area.
Speaking in Yoruba, Olatunde explained that the abductors themselves handled the washing of the captives’ clothing whenever the condition became unbearable.
“The abductors are the ones that wash the clothes for us a few times while we were in captivity, when they notice that we are already smelling. Don’t they (critics) see how rough and dirty we the teachers were? Didn’t they see how rough our beards were, like that of a bush rat?” Olatunde said.
He also rejected suggestions that the kidnapping was orchestrated, saying such claims ignore the painful reality of what the victims endured.
“Those saying the kidnapping was staged don’t know what they are saying. If it was staged, would they have killed two people? If it was staged, what we went through in that place was not good at all,” he said.
Addressing another claim that the rescued pupils appeared in matching ankara outfits, Olatunde explained that the clothing had nothing to do with the kidnapping.
He said the pupils were simply complying with an existing Oyo State policy that encourages schoolchildren to wear native attire on Fridays.
“They said the children were wearing matching ankara. Are they not in Oyo State? Don’t they know that the government has ordered that schoolchildren should be wearing native attires on Friday?
“Primary school pupils in private schools now wear native wears on Friday. We the teachers wore native attire, but secondary school pupils wore school uniform,” he explained.
He appealed to Nigerians to stop spreading what he described as false narratives about the incident.
“So those that are saying it was staged are all telling lies. It was not staged. It was real. So please stop saying those types of things,” he said.
His comments come as speculation continues online despite the Presidency announcing on July 10 that all 44 pupils and teachers abducted from three schools in Oriire Local Government Area had regained their freedom.
The victims were kidnapped on May 15, 2026, when heavily armed men invaded Community Grammar School, Baptist Nursery and Primary School, and L.A. Primary School in the Ahoro-Esiele and Yawota communities near Ogbomoso. A total of 46 pupils and teachers, including school principal Folawe Alamu, were taken into the Old Oyo National Park.
During the attack, the assistant headmaster of L.A. Primary School, Joel Adesiyan, was shot dead while attempting to escape.
A few days later, the kidnappers also killed Mathematics teacher Michael Oyedokun, who was beheaded while in captivity.
The remaining victims were eventually rescued on July 10 during a joint operation involving the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police Force, the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Amotekun operatives and local vigilante groups.
The Presidency has maintained that the victims were released without the payment of ransom or any concession to the abductors.