A United States of America-based Nigerian professor of history, Moyo Okediji, has praised the rescue of pupils and teachers abducted by terrorists in three schools in the Oriire Local Government of Oyo State on May 15, describing the news as feeling like “Christmas in July.”

Last Friday, after spending 56 days in captivity, 44 of the victims were rescued in what the Nigerian government described as an intelligence-led operation involving operatives from multiple security agencies, including the State Security Service and the military.

Two of the seven teachers were however killed by the terrorists while in captivity.

Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga in a statement said that eight of the alleged perpetrators of the abduction were arrested, adding that no ransom was paid to the terrorists to secure the hostages’ release, a development hailed by Mr Okediji.

“The news that our children have been safely rescued from the lairs of bandits is exhilarating. It feels like Christmas in the middle of July. Equally worthy of celebration is the report that not a single kobo in ransom was paid to these calculating killers,” the don said in a Facebook post.

Speaking further, Mr Okediji, a professor of Art and Art History at the University of Texas, Austin, lauded the approach by President Bola Tinubu’s administration by arresting the terrorists’ family members to pressurize them to release the captives instead of yielding to their demands. 

He noted that the approach would dismantle the illegal practice of ransom payments that have turned banditry into a thriving industry. 

“Those who have turned banditry into a trillion-naira enterprise in Nigeria may now think twice before continuing their criminal trade, knowing they can be neutralised without receiving a kobo. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appears to have found a new approach to the menace of ransom-driven banditry,” Mr Okediji stated. 

He added, “According to widely circulated reports, security agencies conducted painstaking investigations, identified the culprits, arrested some of their relatives, recorded videos showing those relatives in custody, and ensured that the bandits saw that their own loved ones were at the mercy of federal authorities.”

Mr Okediji, who is the son of the late Nigerian novelist and playwright, Oladejo Okediji, maintained that the decision to launch a rescue operation distinguished Mr Tinubu from his predecessors Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, whom he said did not sanction similar actions during their tenure. 

“Under President Goodluck Jonathan, hundreds of children were kidnapped but were not rescued. Under President Muhammadu Buhari, hundreds more were abducted, scores of villages were abandoned, and countless innocent people were killed by marauding bandits, while the government’s response was widely perceived as inadequate,” Mr Okediji added.