● Lawmakers: “Intensify manhunt” for bandits who hit Ahoro-Esiele, Esinele, Yawota communities
The Oyo State House of Assembly has rejected suggestions that the state government should negotiate with bandits, insisting instead on intensified rescue operations for teachers and students abducted in Oriire Local Government Area.
The resolution was passed Wednesday during plenary, shortly after lawmakers resumed from the Eid-el-Kabir recess.
Lawmakers rejected any move to dialogue with the kidnappers who struck Ahoro-Esiele community on Friday, May 15, 2026, in a coordinated attack that saw victims taken from Ahoro-Esiele, Esinele, Oyo and Yawota communities.
The resolution followed a motion of urgent public importance moved by Johnson Ogundele, lawmaker representing Oriire State Constituency.
The motion, entitled “Urgent Need for the Executive Arm of Government Through Its Security Architecture to Proactively Nip in the Bud the Spike and Recurring Bandit Attacks on Oriire Communities Since the Beginning of 2026 and to Intensify Rescue and Manhunt Operations to Secure the Release of the Abductees of the Recent Attack on Esinele, Oyo and Yawota Communities,” highlighted growing insecurity across the LGA.
The Assembly called on the executive arm through its security architecture to proactively curb the spike in bandit attacks in Oriire since January 2026 and to ramp up rescue and manhunt operations to free the abductees.
The lawmakers’ stance aligns with the federal government’s “no-ransom” policy, emphasizing kinetic operations over negotiations with criminal groups.
