Residents of Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, have turned to spiritual intervention to secure the release of abducted schoolchildren and teachers in the community.
A video making the rounds online on Tuesday night, May 19, and cited by First Daily correspondent, captured the moment a priest referred to as the Onisa of Esin Ele, Muraina Mutairo, performed a traditional ritual, invoking deities to hunt down the bandits and protect the captured children.
In the viral footage, Mutairo is seen dressed in traditional attire, chanting incantations in the Yoruba language and calling upon the ancestral guardians of the land to bring the children back home and “overcome the enemies.”
The Onisa called on a monarch who offered prayers, echoing the priest’s declarations for the safe, unharmed return of the students and their teachers.
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He also asked that the camp of the abductors be struck with confusion and disagreement, while praying that security officials capture the abductors dead or alive.
Condemnations have continued to trail Friday’s bandits’ attack on three schools in the local government, where about 30 students and teachers were kidnapped, while two persons were killed.
The attack, which occurred on May 16, saw bandits storm the community and abduct staff, students, and pupils from three schools: Community Grammar School, Baptist Nursery and Primary School, and L.A. Primary School.