Ex-DSS Chief reveals how security forces forced Oyo school kidnappers to free victims

Mohammed Ngoshe, a former Assistant Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS),  has disclosed that sustained pressure from security forces compelled the kidnappers of pupils and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State to release their victims after their hideout was surrounded and all support channels cut off.

Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday, Ngoshe praised the Nigerian Armed Forces and other security agencies for what he described as a professionally executed rescue operation, urging Nigerians to focus on commending the security agencies rather than questioning the details of the operation.

According to him, the rescue mission was the result of coordinated intelligence gathering and tactical operations that left the kidnappers isolated and without access to food, weapons or intelligence from their collaborators.

“After all, the thing has now become a matter of public interest, so it is not going to be swept under the carpet for whatever reason, but I think the time is not right for all these kinds of comments to be made on the operation.

“I think we should be eulogising the state services and other security services for doing what they have done and doing it very well”, Ngoshe said.

Explaining how the operation unfolded, the former DSS chief said security operatives first identified and isolated the terrorists’ location before dominating the surrounding communities to prevent any form of external support.

He said the kidnappers were effectively cut off from food supplies, access to weapons and intelligence from their informants, many of whom were identified and turned into intelligence assets by the security agencies.

“There was a congregation of security forces, and positions were taken after the location was isolated. And the whole community around that place was dominated.

“They were denied access to food. They were denied access to weapons. Their informants were taken out and used as assets.

“Videos of all these operations were ferried to them, and they saw that they had no option but to surrender,” he said.

Ngoshe noted that the sustained pressure left the kidnappers desperately seeking a negotiated exit from the situation but said security forces refused to grant them any concessions.

“Now the problem, to them, was how to resolve the matter amicably. Amicably in the sense that they wanted a lifeline, and that lifeline did not come because the security forces did not accede to it,” he added.

He also revealed that the operation came at a cost, disclosing that three security personnel drawn from the police, military and other security agencies were killed after stepping on improvised explosive devices planted by the kidnappers as troops advanced on their hideout.

“It was in the process of closing in on them after they were encircled that the three forces from the police, army and other security services that were lost through IED,  they marched on IED and they were killed,” he said.

According to Ngoshe, the kidnappers eventually released the pupils and teachers after realising they could no longer withstand the security siege and were on the verge of being overrun.

“So getting to the level where they were to be annihilated completely, they gave out the children thinking that that will resolve the matter. After the children were successfully rescued, the forces engaged them,” he said.

The rescue operation followed the abduction of pupils and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area in Oyo State.