Outrage in Reps as lawmakers bemoans Oyo teacher’s beheading

•Demand State Police implementation

By Christiana Ekpa

The House of Representatives witnessed an emotional session on Tuesday as lawmakers condemned the elite’s apparent indifference to the safety of public schools, demanding the immediate establishment of state policing and a permanent military base following the gruesome beheading of an Oyo State mathematics teacher, Mr. Michael Oyedokun.
The legislative uproar followed a motion of urgent public importance moved by Hon. Olamijuwonlo Alao-Akala regarding a “siege” on Ogbomoso and Orire Local Government Areas.
Recall on May 16, 2025, armed bandits launched a broad-daylight raid on three public schools—Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota; Community Grammar School, Esiele; and L.A. Primary School—abducting over 30 pupils and teachers.
While some remain in captivity, the recent discovery that Mr. Oyedokun was decapitated by his captors sparked intense anger on the House floor.
In a scathing contribution that shifted the tone of the debate, Minority Leader Bamidele Salam criticized the political class for securing their own families while leaving ordinary Nigerians exposed.
He noted that the mass abduction of schoolchildren, which shocked the world during the 2014 Chibok incident, is fast becoming a normalized national trend.
“When a lion kills the children of the poor, there may be little reaction, but when it affects the powerful, the entire community responds with urgency,” Salam said, quoting a Yoruba proverb.
Salam lamented that while the children of public officials are safely tucked away in elite private schools or studying abroad, the children of ordinary citizens and their teachers are left entirely defenseless.
He criticized the underfunding of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) school protection initiative, adding: “If we can protect public office holders, we can protect the children of the poor and their teachers.”
Presenting the motion, Alao-Akala warned that Nigeria’s centralized policing system has completely failed to address localized terror.
He revealed that despite the Federal Government approving 1,000 forest guards for the area, the vast, dense forests surrounding the Old Oyo National Park have effectively become a sovereign safe haven for interstate bandits.
Supporting the call for decentralization, Hon. Ben Etanabene (Delta State) argued that state policing is no longer optional.
He maintained that if state governors were constitutionally empowered, they could immediately deploy advanced surveillance tools, such as drones, to flush out criminals from border forests.
Etanabene also cautioned politicians against “politicizing tragedy,” warning that political point-scoring only emboldens bandits.
To check the worsening security crisis in the South-West, the House adopted the motion and resolved to compel security agencies to establish a permanent military Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Orire LGA to lock down the Old Oyo National Park border corridors, and demand the immediate creation of state police, local government policing units, decentralized courts, and a unified national intelligence surveillance network.
Also, HoR resolved to direct the Federal Government to deploy all necessary resources to secure the immediate release of the remaining pupils and teachers still in captivity.
Equally, the green chamber agreed to mandate a joint committee (Defence, Interior, Police Affairs, and National Security) to monitor the implementation of these resolutions and submit a status report within 30 days.
The session concluded with the House observing a solemn one-minute silence for the late schoolteacher, Michael Oyedokun, and the fallen security personnel who have died fighting banditry in the region.