Oyo school abduction: I am her father, mother, hired worker seeks ward’s rescue

May 29, 2026 11:40 am

Screenshot from the video posted by Oriire ni tiwa.

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A hired worker in Yawota community, Oyo State, Aduke Balogun who has no family in the area, has appealed to the government to rescue her ward among the scores of schoolchildren still in captivity, 14 days after terrorists stormed three schools in Oriire Local Government Area.

The appeal was made during a solidarity and condolence visit by the Oriire Youth Council to affected families, traditional rulers, and community leaders in Esinele and Yawota.

A video of the visit was posted on Tuesday by the Facebook page, Oriire ni tiwa, and went viral on Friday.

The interviews were conducted in Yoruba and translated by PUNCH Online.

In the footage, Balogun said she had relocated to the community for work and was solely responsible for her ward, Kehinde Kaosarat, whose biological parents were absent.

She said: “I am the father of the child and the mother of the child. Her parents are not here. Me too, I have no one. I came here as a hired worker.”

Balogun said the morning of the attack began without warning.

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Oyo school abduction: I am her father, mother, hired worker seeks ward’s rescue

May 29, 2026 11:40 am

Oyo school abduction: I am her father, mother, hired worker seeks ward’s rescue

Screenshot from the video posted by Oriire ni tiwa.

By Fawzi Kehinde

Kindly share this story:

The appeal was made during a solidarity and condolence visit by the Oriire Youth Council to affected families, traditional rulers, and community leaders in Esinele and Yawota.

A video of the visit was posted on Tuesday by the Facebook page, Oriire ni tiwa, and went viral on Friday.

The interviews were conducted in Yoruba and translated by PUNCH Online.

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In the footage, Balogun said she had relocated to the community for work and was solely responsible for her ward, Kehinde Kaosarat, whose biological parents were absent.

She said: “I am the father of the child and the mother of the child. Her parents are not here. Me too, I have no one. I came here as a hired worker.”

Balogun said the morning of the attack began without warning.

“In the morning, we bathed our children. They went to school. After 9am, we saw some people dressed like soldiers. We were saying, which visitors have entered Yawota,” she said.

The calm was shattered within seconds. “Before we knew it, we started hearing gunshots. Everybody started running around. Nobody was around,” she said.

She said she caught a brief glimpse of her daughter in the chaos before losing her. “I saw my daughter, Kaosarat. Her name is Kehinde Kaosarat,” Balogun said.

Her appeal to the government was direct. She said, “Please help me. We are visitors. We are begging the government. We know they are working. But they should help free our children,” she said.

Another mother, Madam Agnes, also spoke during the youth council’s visit.

She described the moment the shooting started.

“Shortly after 9am, the children resumed school. The bandits who were dressed as soldiers passed. We all thought they were visitors who came to greet the school children. All of a sudden, we started hearing gunshots and they were very loud,” she said.

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