IBADAN — Sitting amidst a flood of well-wishers in her living room in the Challenge area of Ibadan, Mrs. Olufunmilayo Adelabu looked noticeably fragile but profoundly relieved. The matriarch of the Adelabu family—mother to the former Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu—had spent the previous five days locked in an agonizing cycle of prayer, weeping, and sleeplessness. On Saturday night, June 6, 2026, that nightmare finally ended when police operatives successfully rescued her last-born daughter, Mrs. Olaide Adegoke John-Paul, and her 12-year-old twin grandsons, Peter and Paul.
Yet, as Mama Adelabu addressed journalists on Sunday afternoon, her gratitude was heavily laced with a poignant, heartbreaking irony that encapsulates the reality of living in contemporary Nigeria. Only 24 hours before her own family was targeted, she had been reduced to tears by media reports of another mass abduction in the state.
A Twist of Cruel Irony
“A day before my children’s incident, I wept bitterly when I saw those children on my phone,” Mama Adelabu recalled, her voice cracking with residual emotion as she referenced the recent abduction of over 40 schoolchildren and teachers in the Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.
“I was crying for them, praying for their safe return, completely unaware that it would happen to me too the very next day. I never knew my own daughter and my twin grandsons would become victims of this exact same evil.”
The terrifying ordeal began at approximately 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 3, 2026. Mrs. John-Paul was doing what thousands of mothers across Ibadan do every single morning: driving her 12-year-old twin boys to school. The routine transition from the safety of the home to the school gate was violently shattered when armed men intercepted their vehicle, forcing the mother and her children into captivity at gunpoint.
For five days, the Adelabu home became a sanctuary of grief. In Nigeria, the kidnapping of a relative brings a distinct kind of psychological torture; the mind constantly balances between desperate hope and the gut-wrenching terror of a worst-case scenario. “The incident left me completely devastated,” Mama said, adjusting her wrapper. “When you hear that your last child and your young grandchildren have been carried into the bush by gunmen, you cannot be certain of the outcome. It is a dastardly, wicked act.”
[ Timeline of the Adelabu Family Kidnapping ]
│
Early June 2026 ▼ Mass abduction of pupils/teachers in Oriire LGA.
│ (Mama Adelabu weeps over news footage)
│
June 3, 2026 ▼ Olaide John-Paul & twin sons abducted
(7:30 AM) at gunpoint en route to school in Ibadan.
│
June 5, 2026 ▼ Governor Seyi Makinde visits Adelabu family,
pledging intensified state security measures.
│
June 6, 2026 ▼ Police launch tactical assault; two suspects
(Saturday Night) neutralized; mother and twins rescued unhurt.
The Miracle of Return
The atmosphere in the household shifted from despair to pure ecstasy late Saturday night when news arrived that a specialized tactical team of the Nigeria Police Force had successfully breached the kidnappers’ enclave. Unlike many such operations that end in protracted negotiations or tragedy, the rescue team managed to extract Mrs. John-Paul and the twins unharmed.
Flanked by her son, the former minister, and her safely returned daughter and grandsons, Mama Adelabu expressed her profound appreciation to the security agencies, Governor Seyi Makinde—who had visited the family on Friday to offer security assurances—and the public.
However, even in her moment of personal triumph, the matriarch refused to forget the families still waiting in the dark. She turned her focus back to the primary school pupils and teachers of Oriire who remain in the custody of bandits.
“The same God who freed my children from bondage will free others too,” she prayed fervently. “I have spent the last five days praying for my children, but I was also praying for those poor school children in Oriire. May God release them from captivity. None of them will die in that bush; they will all come home safely to their mothers.”
