The victims, who were kidnapped in May from three schools in Oyo State's Oriire Local Government Area, are receiving medical treatment at a military hospital after being freed.

Oyo Governor Seyi Makinde visited them on Saturday, July 12 saying many were physically weak and suffering psychological trauma after weeks in captivity.

“They were happy to be out of captivity, just like any of us. When your freedom is taken away, it's a different set of minds. But they are glad to be back. Some of them are still very frail. They have to do quite a bit of medical intervention, post-traumatic issues, you know, to be addressed," Makinde said after visiting the survivors as media reported.

The army said the rescue followed "carefully planned and executed" operations carried out with intelligence agencies, police and local vigilante groups. However, it confirmed that security forces suffered "casualties" during the operation but did not provide further details.

Military officials said the operation, which lasted more than a month, targeted the kidnappers' wider network and destroyed several hideouts in the forests of Old Oyo National Park. 

According to the army, coordinated arrests across the country disrupted the group's operations and "completely disorganised the group, exerted overwhelming pressure on them and ultimately led the terrorist group to 'unconditionally release' the pupils and teachers".

Authorities blamed the abduction on Ansaru, a Boko Haram splinter group known to operate in central Nigeria, marking a worrying expansion of militant activity into the country's southwest, a region long regarded as one of Nigeria's safest.

The kidnapping shocked the nation because most previous mass school abductions had occurred in northern Nigeria. During the same week the Oyo students were seized, dozens of children were also kidnapped in Borno State, the centre of Nigeria's long-running Islamist insurgency.

Nigeria has battled Islamist insurgency for more than a decade, with armed groups increasingly relying on mass school kidnappings to demand ransom or secure concessions. One of the country's most notorious cases occurred in April 2014, when Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls from Chibok.

Recent mass abductions, including the kidnapping of schoolgirls in Kebbi State and about 300 students and teachers in Niger State in late 2025, have renewed international concern over Nigeria's worsening insecurity.