The tragedy unfolding in Yawota, Alawusa and Ahoro-Esinele villages in Orire LGA, Oyo State, is deeper than the numbers already making headlines. While over 45 children, teachers and residents were abducted after terrorists invaded the communities, families are now revealing another painful layer of the crisis, the stories of local rescuers who lost their lives trying to save those kidnapped. During his recent visit to the communities, Chude Jideonwo met a grieving man whose younger brother never returned after joining local hunters and security men on a rescue mission into the forest.

“Yes, I lost my junior brother there,” the man said painfully. “He went there with the hunters and security men. They bombed him.” According to him, his brother, Shuaibu Adigun, was not among those kidnapped. Instead, he volunteered to help rescue victims because he knew the forest terrain well and wanted to protect his community. But the mission turned tragic after the rescuers reportedly encountered explosives planted inside the forest. “Among the rescuers, as they were planning to rescue people, they were bombed,” he said. “They have bombs there. They have sophisticated guns, weapons.” He added that Shuaibu’s body has still not been recovered from the forest days after the incident.

Shuaibu Adigun, who worked with one of the national parks, left behind two wives and four children. “The kids now are orphaned,” his brother said in pain. The revelation introduces another dimension to the attack that many outside the communities have not heard about, villagers and local volunteers risking, and in some cases losing, their lives while trying to save abducted children and families. Speaking during the visit, Chude Jideonwo described the story as one of the hidden tragedies emerging from the crisis. “Apart from the 46 people that were recorded, there are people like his brother who were killed because they were trying to rescue the kids who were kidnapped,” he said. “That’s another level of the tragedy that nobody has been talking about.”

Reflecting on the visit, Chude Jideonwo said on his IG page that he travelled into the communities because he felt the real victims of the tragedy were becoming invisible. “Where were the human stories? Where were the people at the center of this tragedy? Where were their voices?” he said. He explained that beyond the statistics are grieving families, children without fathers, mothers without answers, and entire villages drowning in fear and silence. “I asked them to say the names of their daughters and sons and brothers and sisters,” he added, “so that we don’t forget what this is all about: human lives.”