The Foundation for Peace Professionals (PeacePro) has welcomed the successful rescue of the pupils and teachers who were abducted by terrorists in Oyo State, describing the development as a significant victory for the victims, their families, and the nation’s security agencies.
PeacePro commended all security personnel and intelligence operatives involved in the operation, noting that every successful rescue reaffirms the state’s responsibility to protect its citizens.
However, the organization stressed that the rescue operation should mark the beginning, not the end, of the government’s response.
According to PeacePro Executive Director, Abdulrazaq Hamzat, the true measure of success is not only that hostages regain their freedom, but that the criminal enterprise responsible for their abduction is completely dismantled.
“The rescue of victims is commendable, but justice is incomplete if the kidnappers, their financiers, informants, suppliers, and collaborators remain free to abduct again,” Hamzat said.
PeacePro reiterated its position that Nigeria must adopt a doctrine of total accountability for terrorist kidnapping, where every abduction triggers an overwhelming intelligence, law enforcement, and security response aimed at destroying the entire network behind the crime.
“Terrorist kidnapping must become a path to destruction, not reward.
Every successful kidnapping operation that leaves the criminal network intact creates the risk of future victims. Every successful rescue should therefore be followed by the systematic dismantling of the infrastructure that enabled the crime.”
PeacePro urged security agencies to sustain intelligence led operations to identify and prosecute all those connected to the kidnapping, including financiers, logistics providers, informants, and collaborators.
PeacePro further called on governments at all levels to strengthen preventive security around schools and other vulnerable public institutions, emphasizing that protecting education is essential to national development and long-term peace.
“The children are home.
That is welcome news. Now the state must ensure that those responsible lose not only this operation but their entire criminal enterprise.”