Nigeria Inter-Religious Council

Promoting Peace • Unity • Religious Harmony

Press Release
May 19, 2026
NIREC Secretariat

NIREC CONDEMNS THE BARBARIC BEHEADING OF ABDUCTED OYO SCHOOL TEACHER, DEMANDS IMMEDIATE JUSTICE AND TOTAL CRACKDOWN ON BANDITRY

The Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), under the joint leadership of its Co-Chairmen, His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), and His Eminence, Most Rev. Dr. Daniel Okoh, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), expresses its deepest shock, horror, and utter condemnation regarding the gruesome beheading of an innocent school teacher recently abducted by bandits in Oyo State.

This heinous, cold-blooded murder of a dedicated educator is not just an attack on the victim and their grieving family, but a direct assault on the sanctity of human life, the educational system, and the collective peace of our nation.

No religion teaches, condones, or justifies the wanton slaughter of human beings. The perpetrators of this barbaric act have once again demonstrated that they possess neither faith nor humanity.

NIREC declares in the strongest possible terms that the shedding of innocent blood is a grave sin against God Almighty and a monstrous crime against the state.

We stand united as leaders of the Christian and Islamic faiths in Nigeria to say: enough is enough.

Our demands to the Government and Security Agencies:
Swift and Unrelenting Justice
We call on the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Oyo State Government, and all relevant security agencies to track down, apprehend, and bring the perpetrators of this vile act to justice swiftly. The law must take its full, unmitigated course to serve as deterrent
Decisive Action on Banditry:
We urge our military, police, and intelligence agencies to move from a posture of containment to one of total elimination of these bandit enclaves. The growing boldness of these criminals in the Southwest and across the nation must be crushed immediately.
Protection for Educators and Schools:
Schools must remain safe havens for learning, not hunting grounds for terrorists. Government must urgently review and fortify security protocols around educational institutions and vulnerable communities.

A Message to the Nation
To the grieving family of our fallen teacher, the student community, and the people of Oyo State, NIREC extends its deepest, most heartfelt condolences. We pray that Almighty God grants you the fortitude to bear this unimaginable loss.
We appeal to all Nigerians to remain calm, vigilant, and united. We must refuse to allow these agents of darkness to use their cruelty to stoke religious or ethnic divisions. Bandits and terrorists do not discriminate based on faith; they are enemies of humanity. We urge citizens to cooperate fully with security agencies by providing timely information to help root out these criminal elements from our communities.
NIREC will continue to pray for the peace, security, and healing of our nation. We remain resolute in our commitment to a Nigeria where every citizen can live, work, and worship in absolute safety.
To achieve this, NIREC calls on governments at all levels and the security agencies to ensure that the sponsors and funders of Kidnapping, Banditry, terrorism and all forms of criminal activities are exposed, arrested and made to face justice. The security agencies should courageously improve on emergency response during the course of criminal operations and not only visit the scene after the tragedy. Nonetheless, NIREC appreciates the efforts of security agencies and implores them to do more to protect human life, institutions and communities.

May God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.