It is hard to think of a fair-minded Nigerian who would oppose Governor Seyi Makinde’s call for a UN-backed investigation into the Oriire abduction. Innocent schoolchildren were abducted and made to watch the decapitation of two of their teachers. They were kept in dehumanising conditions for nearly two months, exposed to the sun and rain, while their tormentors operated with impunity throughout the period. Surely, an independent probe is called for, if only to establish mechanisms that will help avert a recurrence. As the governor contends, Nigerians deserve a full account of the circumstances surrounding the incident. In his words: “The Nigerian people deserve a full and transparent account of what happened, who was responsible, whether there were institutional failures, negligence, or collusion at any level, and what measures must now be taken to ensure that no community is ever subjected to such an ordeal again. This is not about politics. It is about justice for the victims, reassurance for our people, and restoring public confidence that every Nigerian child can go to school without fear.” This is the unvarnished truth, and no amount of blackmail will alter it.

If anyone needed confirmation that Nigeria, under the present Bola Tinubu administration, has increasingly assumed the trappings of a police state—where dissent is treated as treason and criticism as an affront—it came in the administration’s response to Governor Makinde’s call for independent international scrutiny of the recent abduction of schoolchildren, including babies, by suspected Fulani terrorists. On 15 May 2026, attackers struck three schools in the Yawota and Ahoro Esiele communities of Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, abducting 39 pupils and six teachers, two of whom were later killed in captivity. Reacting to Makinde’s call, the presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, dismissed it as politics and a threat to Nigeria’s sovereignty. According to him, it was inconceivable that anyone would deliberately conspire to expose the victims to a 56-day ordeal, including the killing of a mathematics teacher while in captivity.

Hear him: “The man is just playing politics, and it is the politics of the bizarre. He wants to weaponize anything available, including dredging up a strange conspiracy theory.” Mr Onanuga made several other remarks, including the assertion that Governor Makinde, “being a presidential hopeful, doesn’t have any trust in our own institutions and is now calling on an external body to come and investigate.” As if on cue, the Senate, which had remained largely silent throughout the saga, suddenly found its voice. It argued that Makinde’s statement was capable of diminishing the Federal Government’s efforts to address insecurity and undermining Nigeria’s sovereignty. Then, from New York, Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Jimoh Ibrahim, argued that the United Nations was not empowered to investigate domestic security incidents such as the recent abduction in Oyo State.

It is, however, worth noting that United Nations human rights mechanisms have previously examined comparable incidents in Nigeria. Following the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls on 14 April 2014, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), acting under its treaty mandate, conducted an inquiry into Nigeria’s response to repeated abductions of women and girls. On 6 March 2025, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published the Committee’s findings, concluding that “grave and systematic violations” of the Convention persisted in Nigeria. The Committee found, among other things, that Nigeria had failed adequately to prevent abductions, protect victims, investigate the crimes effectively, prosecute those responsible and provide appropriate remedies. Chibok was not an isolated intervention. On 11 March 2021, following the abductions at Kankara, Kagara and Jangebe, UN human rights experts called for “an impartial, independent investigation” into the incidents while urging accountability and long-term rehabilitation for traumatised children. Earlier, on 26 February 2021, the UN Secretary-General condemned the abduction of schoolgirls in Jangebe, demanded their immediate release and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.

These interventions illustrate that, although the United Nations does not function as Nigeria’s domestic law enforcement agency, its human rights bodies have repeatedly examined serious school abductions in Nigeria within the framework of international human rights treaties to which Nigeria is a party. Next, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, joined the chorus, claiming that “we live in a society where everything is politicised.” He added: “When the noise was rife that the President didn’t place a phone call to someone, it doesn’t make sense. Would a telephone call to that person have resolved the case?” The reference was to a duly elected state governor, and the remarks were made while defending President Tinubu’s decision not to communicate directly with Governor Makinde during the period of the abduction. The ensuing public debate drew in several political figures and commentators. During that period, Governor Makinde was publicly accused by some critics of politicising the incident. Subsequently, the Presidency maintained that Makinde’s own call for an international probe amounted to politicisation of the tragedy. These contrasting positions became part of the broader public controversy surrounding the Oriire abduction.

In his call, Governor Makinde, who had repeatedly commended the military, the Presidency and all those involved in the rescue operation, stated: “The circumstances surrounding this incident are sufficiently grave and unusual to warrant independent scrutiny beyond our domestic institutions.”

He added: “Such scrutiny is not intended to undermine our institutions. Rather, it is intended to reinforce public confidence that the truth will be established and that every person found to bear responsibility, regardless of office, influence, or affiliation, will be held accountable.”

When the Chibok abduction occurred in 2014, many opposition politicians called for international involvement in Nigeria’s response. Earlier, on 26 April 2013, following the killing of civilians in Baga, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) called for the intervention of the International Criminal Court, arguing that the Federal Government had not demonstrated sufficient commitment to bringing those responsible to justice. The statement, issued by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, argued that the time had come “to hold to account the leaders under whose watch these killings are being perpetrated.”

The broader debate raises enduring questions about accountability, sovereignty, democratic freedoms and the role of international human rights mechanisms. It also reflects the tension that often exists between domestic political considerations and international scrutiny where grave human rights violations are alleged.

Ordinarily, few would object to calls for a thorough investigation into an incident of this magnitude. Whether such an inquiry should be conducted exclusively through domestic institutions or whether international mechanisms also have a role remains a matter of public debate. What is clear, however, is that Nigeria has long been subject to international human rights scrutiny under treaties it has voluntarily ratified, and previous mass school abductions have been examined by relevant UN bodies within those frameworks.

Against that background, the legal and institutional question is narrower than the political debate sometimes suggests.

The issue is not whether the United Nations governs Nigeria—it does not—but whether UN human rights mechanisms may examine alleged violations arising from incidents such as mass school abductions. The documentary record demonstrates that they have done so repeatedly in relation to Nigeria over the past decade. They should do so again if the circumstances warrant it.

Only those with something to hide should fear an independent inquiry.

Oluwarotimi writes from Lagos