The Presidency on Monday criticised Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde over his call for a United Nations-led investigation into the abduction of pupils and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area, describing the request as unnecessary and driven by politics.
Speaking in an interview, the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said the Federal Government had no problem with an international probe if Makinde believed there were still unanswered questions.
“The governor has just expressed his opinion that the UN should probe this incident. Our doors are open. Let the UN come if he thinks there is more to it than what our military has explained,” Onanuga said.
He questioned why the governor made the request, saying no security agency would deliberately leave schoolchildren in captivity for 56 days.
“Look at those kids. Some of them are just about four or six years old. Will anyone want to deliberately subject them to the trauma they went through for 56 days?” he told The Punch.
Onanuga said the rescue mission came at a high price, with some security personnel, including soldiers and members of the Western Nigeria Security Network, codenamed Amotekun, losing their lives while trying to free the victims.
He added that one of the kidnapped teachers was killed in captivity, saying it was “unthinkable” that anyone would deliberately allow such an incident to happen.
The presidential spokesman accused Makinde, whom he described as a presidential aspirant, of letting politics shape his position.
“It is just unfortunate that Mr Makinde, maybe because of politics, because he is a presidential candidate now, doesn’t have any trust in our own institutions and is now calling on an external body to come and investigate,” he said.
Onanuga also called the governor’s demand “absolutely unnecessary,” accusing him of trying to use the incident for political gain.
“The man is just playing politics, and it is the politics of the bizarre. He wants to weaponise anything available, including dredging up a strange conspiracy theory,” he added.
Earlier on Monday, Makinde made the call while receiving the 45 rescued pupils and teachers formally handed over to the Oyo State Government by the Federal Government after spending 56 days in captivity.
The governor said the abduction and rescue raised serious concerns that deserved an independent international review.
“I therefore, with a full sense of responsibility as the executive governor of Oyo State, call on the appropriate international human rights and accountability mechanisms, including those within the United Nations system, to closely examine the facts surrounding this abduction and the circumstances of its resolution,” he said.
Makinde said the request was not meant to discredit Nigerian institutions but to build public trust through transparency and accountability.
He said Nigerians deserved a full account of what happened, including whether there were institutional failures, negligence or collusion, and what should be done to stop similar attacks on schools.
“This is not about politics. It is about justice for the victims, reassurance for our people, and restoring public confidence that every Nigerian child can go to school without fear,” the governor said.
