The Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Tosin Ajayi, has disclosed that nine people were killed during security operations carried out to rescue victims abducted by suspected terrorists in Oyo State.
The casualties comprised five security personnel and four civilians, according to Ajayi, who gave the account in an interview with Premium Times.
He said security forces launched an immediate response after receiving credible intelligence on the location of the kidnappers and their victims.
According to the DSS chief, the first pursuit resulted in the death of a police officer and a vigilante before further casualties were recorded during a subsequent raid on the kidnappers’ hideout.
“Immediately after the incident happened, based on credible intelligence, troops chased them, and sadly, a vigilante and a policeman were killed. During the second raid, more were killed, making a total of nine fatalities, four civilians and five security personnel,” Ajayi said.
Rescue Operation Involved Two-Year-Old Child
Ajayi described the operation as complex, particularly because some of the victims were vulnerable and could not easily escape during a military assault.
He disclosed that one of the captives was a two-and-a-half-year-old child, making any direct attack on the location particularly challenging.
“It was a complex operation involving a two-and-a-half-year-old infant who could not run much if we invaded the place,” he explained.
The DSS boss said security forces therefore had to carefully balance the need to neutralise the abductors with the safety of the hostages.
DSS Raises Alarm Over Social Media Disinformation
Ajayi also criticised the spread of misleading information on social media during the rescue operation.
He said videos showing children allegedly being tortured were circulated online and presented as footage from the Oyo incident, but investigators determined that the videos were unrelated to the case.
“As expected, the rescue operation attracted a lot of social media disinformation. You have to sieve the information there,” he said.
According to him, some of the videos were actually old footage from another country involving alleged witchcraft-related incidents.
“They were actually footage from a particular country on witchcraft-related incidents passed off as real-time crude events here,” Ajayi stated.
He urged the media and members of the public to verify information before sharing it, noting that the victims themselves had reportedly described being treated relatively well while in captivity.
“One of the things I’d like you to do in the media is fact-finding and separating facts from fiction,” he said.
DSS Links Kidnap Gang to Al-Qaeda-Linked Group
Ajayi further alleged that the kidnapping network was connected to an international terrorist organisation with links to Al-Qaeda.
He said some of the group’s senior figures had previously been arrested by the DSS, and their detention had helped prevent further attacks.
According to him, the suspects were connected to the Abuja-Kaduna train attack and were allegedly planning additional large-scale kidnappings targeting foreigners, students, women and children.
“The incarcerated leaders of the kidnap group who were requested in exchange for the victims were arrested last year by the Service; their arrest helped to prevent high-profile attacks,” Ajayi said.
He added that the suspects were:
“Found complicit in the Abuja/Kaduna train attack and were planning more kidnappings of foreigners, students, women and their children on a large scale.”
The DSS director-general said the group allegedly sought to establish territorial control where it could impose its authority and practise its ideology.
Ajayi explained that the earlier arrests were part of efforts to disrupt the organisation before it could execute additional attacks.
He disclosed that the alleged kingpins and three other collaborators had been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
“The kingpins are the ones now sentenced to life imprisonment. The three other collaborators earned life imprisonment, and the Service will push for a stiffer penalty,” he said.
