She spoke from the bush, voice steady despite the fear.
In a video released today, Mrs. Rachael Folawe Alamu, Vice Principal of Community Grammar School, Ahoro-Esinele, looked into the camera and dismantled a lie that had gone viral.
“The reports going round that the terrorists are asking for the implementation of Sharia law is totally false,” she said. “They only want their detained members to be released.”
Speaking under duress but with remarkable clarity, Alamu pleaded for one thing: facts over rumours.
For days, social media swirled with claims that the kidnappers had 4 demands: ₦1bn ransom, 2 Hilux vans, prison inmates freed, and Sharia law in Oyo State. None of it, she said, was true.
No religion. No ideology. Just a prisoner swap.
–“Force will only get us killed”–
Alamu, abducted May 15 during coordinated attacks on Ogbomoso-area schools, begged President Bola Tinubu and Governor Seyi Makinde not to politicise the crisis.
“This is not about politics. This is about innocent children and teachers who have spent weeks in the bush, exposed to cold, rain, and sun,” she said, voice breaking. “Please, do not play politics with our condition. Just negotiate with them. Dialogue with them. Force will only get us killed.”
One teacher, Michael Oyedokun, had already been killed earlier in the crisis. The remaining hostages — children and staff — remain in captivity nearly 3 weeks later.
–Faith leaders push back–
The false Sharia narrative sparked outrage. The Muslim Community in Oyo State quickly disowned the kidnappers.
“The protection of human life remains a fundamental principle of Islam. These criminals do not represent our faith,” said Chairman Alhaji Ishaq Kunle Sanni.
–Govt split on next move–
Oyo State says security agencies are combing the forests. Governor Makinde has assured residents that federal operatives are deployed.
But the Oyo House of Assembly, led by Speaker Adebo Ogundoyin, rejects negotiation. Their argument: paying ransoms or talking to terrorists only breeds more kidnaps.
The Federal Government has yet to respond officially to Alamu’s video.
For now, 50+ hostages wait in the bush. And the woman who speaks for them asks Nigerians to kill the rumour before the rumour kills them.
