IBADAN, NIGERIA — As mass protests over school abductions continue to rock major cities across the federation, a heartbroken mother has shared a devastating first-hand account of the moment her daughter was snatched by bandits during a recent campus raid.
The emotional public outpour highlights the profound psychological trauma and mounting desperation gripping hundreds of Nigerian families whose children remain trapped in remote forest enclaves.
“My Last Day of Seeing My Beautiful Daughter”
The distraught mother, identified as Ebun, described the agonizing shift from a normal morning routine to a living nightmare when heavily armed bandits breached her daughter’s school.
“I dropped my daughter at school that morning and went to work, never knowing that very day was my last day of seeing my beautiful daughter,” Ebun shared in a deeply emotional public address. “A few hours later, I received the most painful news a mother could ever hear — bandits had attacked the school and kidnapped everyone, including my little girl and her teachers.”
Expressing the deep uncertainty that defines the ongoing hostage crisis, she stated that the absence of information regarding her child’s health or survival has left her in a state of constant grief. “Since then, my daughter has been in the forest, and I don’t know if she is safe or even alive. The pain is too much for me to bear. Every day I cry, pray, and hope for a miracle.”
The Human Cost of a Systemic Failure
Ebun’s personal tragedy mirrors the collective pain of parents in Borno and Oyo States, where coordinated mass abductions have forced communities into a state of mourning and intense civic resistance.
Public health experts and emergency counselors warn that the long-term psychological toll on these parents is catastrophic. Many families are trapped in a state of prolonged shock, requiring urgent medical intervention as they hold continuous prayer vigils in the open rain, refusing comfort while their children are subjected to harsh weather and starvation in captivity.
Labor Unions Demand Swift Action
The widespread circulation of parent testimonies has injected fresh momentum into the nationwide strikes organized by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and civil rights coalitions.
With schools remaining shut in major high-risk zones across Oyo and Borno, labor leaders maintain that empty classrooms are the only way to force state and federal authorities to prioritize student protection. The unions are insisting that until the military coordinates successful rescue operations for all captives—including the recently abducted family of former Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu—educators will not risk their lives or the lives of their pupils by returning to unfortified institutions.
