ESINELE, Nigeria (AP) 鈥� Aliyu Saheed feared he might not see his three young sons again. For nearly two months after al-Qaida-linked fighters carried out a mass abduction of schoolchildren in an area of formerly free of , he could hardly sleep at night.
He wondered what the boys were doing in captivity and how his youngest, just 5 years old, would survive.
鈥淭he day they told us they had been rescued was the happiest day of my life,鈥� the farmer told The Associated Press, as children returned to the community on Friday to feasting and prayers led by pastors and Islamic clerics.
His boys were from their classrooms in Oriire area of southwestern Oyo state on May 15 before being rescued on July 10.
Children as young as 3 were seized in the attack that awakened many Nigerians to a threat that has through Africa’s most populous nation in the last year. Competition for territory and control of natural resources has intensified among jihadis and other armed groups as they expand beyond to areas largely spared until now.
Nigeria’s forests are used for militants’ expansion
The armed men stormed into the agrarian community and took 39 children from three schools. They were marched, along with teachers, into a vast forest reserve nearby. One teacher was killed in the abduction. Two others were killed in captivity, according to local media.
The forest reserve connects to neighboring Kwara state to the north, which borders northern Nigeria and its long history of by armed groups, often for ransom. Analysts say children and schools are often seen as strategic targets to draw more attention and higher ransoms.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has said the attackers in Oyo state were Ansaru militants, a breakaway faction of the Boko Haram militant group that claims to defend the interests of Islam and has been more active in recent years.
Authorities said the rescue operation was carried out jointly by the military, intelligence agency and police, and that eight kidnappers were arrested while others were killed.
The abduction turned attention to Nigeria’s lightly policed forest reserves and their use as a corridor and hiding area for armed groups.
鈥淭he thing to learn is that the forested areas of the country must be much better surveilled because that is where those armed groups operate and keep their victims,鈥� said Joachim MacEbong, a senior analyst at global risk consultancy firm Control Risks.
Children described being bound and beaten
In interviews with the AP, the children and their parents spoke of horrid conditions in captivity. They said their captors left them in the open without shelter, exposing them to sun and rain.
Saheed鈥檚 eldest son, 9-year-old Shuaib, said he and his brothers tried to distract themselves by thinking about the comfort of home and their mother鈥檚 cooking. They were fed a basic meal of boiled rice and palm oil, he recalled.
鈥淚 could not say anything for fear of getting beaten,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey flogged us with a cane all over the body, and they hit me in the back with the butt of their gun.鈥�
The militants beat the youngest children the worst and muffled their mouths with cloth so that their cries would not attract attention, Alamu Folawe, the head of one of the schools, told journalists.
Families said some children now have physical scars, and many are still recuperating psychologically.
Aduke Balogun鈥檚 daughter, 8-year-old Kehinde Kaosarat, was one of the last to be discharged from the hospital. She has not left her mother鈥檚 side since she returned home on Friday.
While in captivity, the girl said, she could not eat or sleep because 鈥淚 kept imagining the worst things.鈥�
Abducted siblings Jacob and Mary told their parents after their release that they didn鈥檛 want to return to school, said their father, Gabriel Sunday.
It’s a common concern after such kidnappings in a country that already has one of the world’s highest numbers of children out of school.
鈥淪ending them back to the school does not sound meaningful to me right now,鈥� said Saheed, the father of the three boys.
The spread to the south increases pressure on leaders
Tinubu, elected in 2023 after promising to end the country鈥檚 security woes, has come under growing pressure. The U.S. military is supporting Nigerian forces, though much of that is restricted to logistics and intelligence-gathering at the heart of the violence in the north.
Although Tinubu said the Ansaru militants’ network of informants was dismantled during the rescue operation, analysts say the drivers of insecurity, such as corruption and poor governance, remain. And Nigeria’s overstretched security forces are mostly absent in remote communities.
James Barnett, a research fellow with U.S.-based Hudson Institute who specializes in security in Africa, said Ansaru has been building networks in Nigeria’s southwest for many years.
Experts say an attack regarded as successful could inspire more.
Some residents now hesitate to return
Friday’s celebration of the children’s return drew the community of Christians and Muslims together for dancing and a meal to express their gratitude.
鈥淲e have all come here to thank God for protecting the children and their teachers and helping the military men who rescued them,鈥� said Tajudeen Abioye, the village chief.
Many residents left the area after the attack but have started trickling back. Although security forces deployed following the mass abduction are still in the area, locals remain anxious, especially farmers whose farms are close to the forest reserve.
鈥淭he rescue of the Oriire abductees is wonderful news and should inspire some confidence in Nigeria鈥檚 ability to better manage these threats. But it is not the end of insecurity in the southwest or Nigeria as a whole,鈥� Barnett said.
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