A former Director of Media Operations at the Defence Headquarters, Major General John Enenche (retd), has hailed security agencies and the government for the rescue of the abducted Oyo students and teachers after over 50 days in captivity.

Enenche said he was relieved when he heard about the successful rescue of the people who were picked up in Orire Local Government Area of Oyo State.

“When they (Oyo schoolchildren and teachers) were rescued, I was in church; I quickly sent congratulatory messages to the principals, the Chief of Army Staff, the Special Adviser on Homeland Security, among others, because I’m excited. This is what I desire,” Enenche said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, which airs from 8 pm to 9 pm.

He, however, wants authorities to step up efforts to “close” security gaps to avoid a recurrence of such an incident. According to him, proactiveness is key to winning the war against insurgency.

“The biggest lesson out of this for me is that we need to close the gaps. There are gaps that we have identified, and that is why I call on my colleagues who are retired like me—not tired and passive— let them become more active. Let us close the gaps,” he said.

“Like I said, if the gaps that are there now are closed, we will not get to the level of leaving people in captivity for over 50 days, close to two months.”

He told security agencies and the government to “come together” to bring up and embrace innovations to address Nigeria’s security challenges.

Enenche noted that with these innovations, “we should be able to locate and geolocate places and put a [security] umbrella over this country” and track security challenges as they happen.

While commending security operatives for the rescue, Eneche asked Nigerians to “be proud of them (security operatives) and support them”.

“Give them the morale and encouragement to do more. We have a lot here, but we are only finding fault,” he said.

The former defence spokesman’s comment came days after the presidency and military authorities announced the rescue of the abductees who were taken from their schools in Oyo State.

Authorities say the victims are undergoing medical evaluation and treatment, after which they will be reunited with their families.

Their abduction had triggered an outpouring of outcry across the country, with teachers and residents of the state taking to the streets to demand the release of the victims.

But after 56 days in captivity, the victims were rescued following a joint security operation.

A faction of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, led by its National Chairman, Hon. Nafiu Bala Gombe has successfully uploaded credentials of its presidential, vice presidential and national assembly candidates on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC portal.

Nafiu, who disclosed the development in a statement he issued on Sunday, didn’t give details of the faction’s candidates whose names were submitted to the commission.

“The African Democratic Congress, ADC, under my leadership, has successfully completed the upload of our Presidential, Vice-Presidential, and National Assembly candidates on the INEC portal for the 2027 General Elections”, he said.


He said the party under his leadership is focused on fielding credible, competent, and people-centered candidates for the 2027 elections.

“This achievement demonstrates our Party’s firm commitment to safeguarding the interests of our founding and legacy members in the face of anti-democratic tendencies.

“As a Party, the ADC remains resolute in its mission to field credible, competent, and people-centered candidates who will provide purposeful leadership, promote good governance, and bring hope to the Nigerian people”, he added.

Any further expansion of the World Cup, increasing the number of teams participating at the finals to 64, will be ⁠discussed after this year’s edition, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said without providing any details.

The 2026 finals in Canada, Mexico, and the United States have seen 48 teams for the first ‌time, a decision that was heavily criticised but which has not provoked much debate since the tournament kicked off on June ‌11.

“These are all issues that we will be examining after the World Cup,” Infantino, who ‌successfully pushed for the expansion of the finals from 32 teams, told Swiss television outlet Blue Sport.

He ‌did not elaborate, saying only: “I think it is important that when you want to organise ‌a World Cup, you do it for the whole world — not just Europe and South America, but effectively the entire world.

“Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup. You can see that the quality ‌of the teams is extremely high and it’s getting higher and ⁠higher, all over the world.

“If you don’t give ‌smaller countries a chance to participate in the World Cup, they’ll lack the incentive to keep improving.”


Infantino hailed ​the 48-team tournament as a success, saying: “Every team played at a high level. Teams from every continent scored goals and earned at least one point.

“Nine out of 10 African ​teams reached the knockout stage. At the last World Cup, there were only five teams from Africa. That just goes to show how important it is to include all teams, to give ⁠them this opportunity to participate,” he added.