They Were Buying Bread Worth N20,000’: How Oriire Attackers Hid in Plain Sight

Senator Abdulfatai Buhari has given a detailed account of the May 15 terrorist attack in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, saying the assailants carried out surveillance on local communities before striking schools.

Speaking on Arise News Prime Time, the senator representing Oyo North in the 10th National Assembly described how the attackers moved between neighboring communities, targeting students, teachers, and bystanders.

On May 15, 2026, armed men stormed the rural communities of Yawota and Esiele in Oriire LGA. In coordinated raids, they abducted students and teachers and forced them into the bush. Witnesses described the attackers as heavily armed and swift, leaving behind panic and destruction. Classrooms were emptied and communities thrown into fear.

The same day, suspected Boko Haram militants attacked Mussa in Askira-Uba LGA, Borno State, abducting 42 schoolchildren and residents.

Detailing the Oyo attack, Buhari said: “Look at this school, for example in Esiele and Yawota. They first went to Yawota and picked nine students. From Yawota to Esiele is about five to eight minutes’ drive. Then they came to Esiele to pick the remaining students and teachers. One of the teachers was trying to escape through the window; he was shot.”

“Another person, he is not even a teacher. He is just an okada rider. He was dropping somebody from Yawota to Esiele and they thought he was chasing them. He was shot,” he added.

Buhari said the affected schools are in remote rural areas, often consisting of only three or four classrooms, making them highly vulnerable.

“Now back to the Safe Schools Initiative; in most cases, schools in rural areas are always about three, four classrooms. It is a very remote area,” he said.

The senator recounted how unusual business activity in one community may have signaled the attackers’ presence before the raid.

“Two days before the strike, there is a woman selling beans and bread. Normally, her take-home is maybe N1,000, N1,200,” he said. “But for the two days before the strike, she was making N10,000, N15,000, N20,000. She thought there was a market boom, so instead of reporting it, probably to tell the Baale or any of the teachers that certain people come here to buy, she thought maybe it was her business that was booming or probably they were building something around that area.”

He said the attackers were later discovered to have been conducting surveillance.

“Unfortunately, it turned out that those people were doing surveillance. When they struck two days later, they realised the people buying beans and bread worth N10,000, N15,000 this was their intention. At times, information is also very vital,” Buhari said.

The Yawota and Esiele abductions, alongside the Borno school kidnapping, have sparked nationwide outrage. Teachers, parents, and activists are demanding not just the rescue of victims but systemic reforms to end attacks on schools.