A survivor of the May 15, 2026 abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State has told a Federal High Court in Abuja how the victims endured 56 days in captivity, surviving on scarce food and dirty water.
The witness, identified in court as “AAA” to protect her identity, gave the account on Thursday while testifying in the trial of five men accused by the Department of State Services of involvement with Ansaru, a proscribed terrorist organisation.
She told the court that the victims were moved through six different locations in the bush during their captivity. According to her, they were frequently barefoot, slept on grass and were exposed to heavy rainfall and intense sunlight.
Some of the victims were children as young as one-and-a-half years old, who, she said, endured the same harsh conditions as the adults.
The witness said the abductors stormed the schools on 12 motorcycles while shooting sporadically, preventing pupils and teachers from escaping.
She explained that the victims were subsequently taken into the bush, with about four people reportedly placed on each motorcycle. A Toyota vehicle belonging to one of the teachers was also allegedly used to transport some of the captives.
According to the witness, the abductors later told the victims that the kidnapping was not motivated by a demand for ransom.
Instead, she said, the kidnappers claimed they were holding the victims to pressure the government to release detained members of the Ansaru group.
The situation reportedly became more severe after two teachers, Deacon John Olaleye and Michael Oyedokun, were killed. The witness told the court that the kidnappers blamed the government for failing to take their demands seriously.
She also said the abductors seized the victims’ phones and used them to contact relatives and government officials during negotiations.
Despite the negotiations, the captives allegedly faced severe shortages of food and water.
The witness said that at some points, four victims had to share only one cup of water. She described the water as extremely dirty, saying the captives had to close their eyes before drinking it because they had no alternative.
“We had to drink the dirty water just to survive,” she told the court.
Food was similarly scarce. The witness said the captives were initially given rice mixed with salt and palm oil. After the salt was exhausted, they continued eating rice with palm oil until the palm oil also ran out.
The victims were subsequently given plain white rice.
She further alleged that the abductors flogged some of the children whenever they struggled over food. Food, she said, was served in a dirty rubber bucket.
The witness also described the sanitary conditions in captivity, saying the victims were unable to bathe or wash their clothes throughout the 56-day ordeal.
She said the captives became extremely dirty and were exposed to rain, heat and other dangers while being moved between camps.
The ordeal eventually ended at the sixth camp when security forces engaged the abductors in a gun battle and rescued the victims, according to the witness.
The testimony was presented as part of the prosecution of five defendants on seven counts involving terrorism, kidnapping, conspiracy, aiding terrorism, concealment of information about an impending terrorist act and the alleged killing of the two teachers.
The defendants are Mahmud Muhammad, also known as Abu Bara’a or Abbas Mukhtar; Abubakar Abbas, also known as Isah Adam or Mallam Mahmuda Al-Nigeri; Abdulrazak Umar, also known as Abu Khalifa or Abu Khalid; Yunusa Musa, also known as Abu Yunusa Bin Musa; and Shamsu Adamu Sani, also known as Abu Itisar.
The prosecution alleges that Mahmud Muhammad and Abubakar Abbas ordered other members of the group to kidnap and kill Nigerians in different parts of the country in an attempt to force the government to release detained Ansaru members.
It also alleges that the defendants were involved in the deaths of Olaleye and Oyedokun and conspired to abduct about 46 pupils and teachers from three schools in Oriire.
All five defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Justice Salim Ibrahim ordered that the defendants remain in DSS custody during the trial. Defence counsel Bala Dakum is expected to cross-examine the witness on Friday, September 18.
The court proceedings are continuing.
