I'd Have Entered the Bush to Free Oyo Pupils, Says Peter Obi

For 56 days, they were in the bush. Pupils. Teachers. Children. And for 56 days, the Commander-in-Chief did not pick up the phone to call the governor of the state where they were taken.

That, according to Peter Obi, is not leadership. It is abandonment.

The former Anambra State Governor and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential aspirant has said that if he were President, he would have personally gone into the forest where the abducted schoolchildren and teachers of Oriire, Oyo State, were held — and he would not have waited weeks to do it.

"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."

What Happened in Oriire

On May 15, 2026, dozens of schoolchildren and teachers were kidnapped in Oriire, Oyo State. The victims spent approximately 56 days in captivity before they were rescued by security forces in July 2026.

The abduction was one of the most protracted school kidnapping incidents in Nigeria's recent history — and it unfolded against a backdrop of escalating nationwide insecurity that has seen students, farmers, and commuters targeted across the North-West, North-Central, and now the South-West.

Obi, speaking during an interview on Afia TV's "State of the Nation with Peter Obi" — hosted by Alex Ogbodo and aired on Thursday — said the response to the Oriire abduction exposed a failure of decisive leadership at the highest level.

He faulted President Bola Tinubu for failing to personally reach out to Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde throughout the ordeal, describing the silence as incomprehensible.

"The Bush Is in Nigeria"

Obi's most striking remark was his insistence that the forest where the pupils were held is Nigerian territory — and that a President who is Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces should treat it as such.

His argument is simple: if criminals can enter a forest in Nigeria, the Nigerian state can enter that same forest. The question is whether the political will exists to order it.

He drew a contrast with his own tenure as Governor of Anambra State, where he said he confronted criminal elements operating in forests across the state by taking direct action — after consulting then-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Obi recalled informing Obasanjo that a particular forest had become a security threat and insisting that the criminal elements operating there had to be driven out. He referenced several notorious criminals who, according to him, were killed during security operations in Anambra while he was governor.

The Secrecy Problem

Obi also trained his fire on what he described as the culture of secrecy surrounding security operations in Nigeria — a culture in which arrests are announced but suspects are never publicly shown, and operations are declared "successful" without verifiable evidence.

"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."

For a platform like Watch Nigeria Elections — built on the principle that transparency is the foundation of accountability — this argument resonates. A democracy cannot hold its security agencies accountable for outcomes it is never allowed to see.

"One Person Must Be in Charge"

Obi's closing argument was about authority itself. Effective leadership, he said, requires clear command and personal responsibility — and a willingness to bear the consequences.

"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."

It is a stark framing — and one that will resonate with Nigerians frustrated by a security establishment that often appears to outrank the civilians it is meant to serve.

Why This Matters for 2027

The Oriire abduction and the political response to it will feature prominently in the 2027 election cycle. Insecurity is no longer a regional issue — it has touched every zone of the country, and voters in 2027 will judge presidential candidates not on their promises, but on whether they can credibly promise to do what has not been done: bring Nigerians home from the bush.

Peter Obi has drawn his line. Other aspirants will have to draw theirs.

Source: Punch Nigeria, "I'd have entered the bush to free Oyo pupils, says Obi" by Fawzi Kehinde, July 31, 2026. Watch Nigeria Elections provides civic-focused analysis and verification of political and security developments ahead of the 2027 general elections.