Major General Chinedu Ralph Nnebeife has revealed how security agencies coordinated efforts to rescue victims of the Orire school abductions in Oyo State, saying the arrest of a key suspect by the Commissioner of Police played a crucial role in the operation.
Speaking during the official handover of the rescued victims in a video shared by Channels Television, Nnebeife said the military tracked the kidnappers for more than a month in a complex operation aimed at identifying those responsible, dismantling their network, and cutting off their supplies.
He disclosed that the operation extended beyond Oyo State as security forces pursued members of the kidnapping gang. According to him, the mission continued until the armed group operating in the area had been dismantled.
Nnebeife commended the Oyo State Commissioner of Police for supporting the operation, noting that the police chief regularly arranged food supplies for troops deployed in the forest and acted swiftly on intelligence provided by the military.
Describing the breakthrough, Nnebeife said, “It came to time to pick up one of the suspect, the CP helped us to arrest. We were following them up and then we called the CP, there’s this person going to this place, and the CP immediately arrested them, and we sent a helicopter there to bring the person to us into the bush who gave us relevant information as to where their camps were.”
He explained that after the suspect was flown into the forest, the individual provided intelligence that enabled security personnel to locate the kidnappers’ camps, contributing significantly to the successful rescue operation.
Nnebeife described the rescue as the outcome of close collaboration among the military, police, and other security agencies involved in the mission.
