By Yemi Oyeyemi, Abuja.
A witness in the trial of five alleged members of the Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan (Ansaru) on Thursday gave the Federal High Court in Abuja a harrowing account of the 56 days she and other abducted pupils and teachers spent in captivity in Oyo State.
The witness, identified only as AAA for security reasons, told Justice Salim Ibrahim that the captives were moved between six different locations in the forest, often barefoot and exposed to rain and intense heat.
She said the victims endured severe hunger, inadequate water and unhygienic conditions before security forces eventually rescued them.
The witness was testifying for the Department of State Services (DSS) in the trial of five men accused of involvement in the May 15, 2026 abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State. The defendants pleaded not guilty to the amended seven-count terrorism charge.
According to earlier accounts of the incident, armed men attacked three schools in the Ahoro-Esiele and Yawota communities of Oriire on May 15, taking pupils and teachers into the surrounding forest.
The schools were Community Grammar School, Baptist Nursery and Primary School, and L.A. Primary School.
Earlier reports established the number abducted at 46 — 39 pupils and seven teachers. The victims included very young children, with reports indicating that a toddler was among those taken.
AAA, however, told the court that 49 students and teachers were held during the ordeal.
She said the attackers arrived on motorcycles, shooting sporadically and preventing those inside the schools from escaping. According to her testimony, alleged that the defendants were involved in a wider plot connected to the proscribed terrorist organisation. The amended charge before the court alleges that the May about 12 motorcycles were used, with some victims also transported in a teacher’s Toyota car.
‘We were held to secure release of Ansaru members’
The witness said that after taking the victims into the bush, the kidnappers’ leader told them they were not being held primarily for ransom.
Rather, she said, the kidnappers wanted the government to facilitate the release of detained members of Ansaru.
The prosecution has alleged that the defendants were involved in a wider plot connected to the proscribed terrorist organisation. The amended charge before the court alleges that the May 15 attack resulted in the killing of two people, identified as Deacon John Olaleye and Michael Oyedokun.
The witness further told the court that two teachers were taken away on separate occasions and killed, with their captors allegedly saying the government was not serious about meeting their demands.
She said the kidnappers also used phones seized from the victims to contact relatives and government officials during negotiations.
Describing the conditions in captivity, AAA said the victims frequently went hungry and had little water.
At one point, she said, four people had to share a single cup of water. The water was so dirty and foul-smelling that the captives had to close their eyes before drinking it.
“We had to drink the dirty water just to survive,” she told the court, according to reports of the proceedings.
Food also became increasingly scarce.
The witness said the captives were initially given rice mixed with salt and palm oil. After the salt was exhausted, they received rice and palm oil, and eventually were left with plain white rice when the palm oil ran out.
She alleged that some children were flogged when they struggled for food and that meals were distributed in plastic containers.
The victims, she added, were unable to bathe or wash their clothes throughout the 56-day ordeal.
AAA said the victims were eventually rescued while being held at the kidnappers’ sixth camp.
According to her testimony, security forces engaged the kidnappers in a gun battle before freeing the captives.
The rescue on July 10 ended 56 days of captivity. The Presidency subsequently announced that security agencies had arrested eight suspected kidnappers during the operation, while others were reportedly neutralised. The government also said the victims were not released through a prisoner exchange.
The court is expected to continue hearing evidence in the case, with defence counsel Bala Dakum scheduled to cross-examine the DSS witness on Friday.
Justice Ibrahim has also ordered that the five defendants remain in DSS custody for the duration of the trial.
The Oriire abduction became one of the most closely watched school kidnapping cases in Nigeria in 2026. The victims were held for nearly two months before their rescue, prompting protests and pressure from parents, teachers and other stakeholders. The Oyo State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers also took industrial action during the crisis.
The five defendants – Mahmud Muhammad, Abubakar Abbas, Abdulrazak Umar, Yunusa Musa and Shamsu Adamu Sani – are facing terrorism-related allegations arising from the abduction.