The demonstration highlights growing ethno-regional tensions in southwest Nigeria, a region historically insulated from the mass school abductions that have plagued the country’s northern states for a decade.
Members of the Hausa community in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, took to the streets on Wednesday to stage a peaceful protest against what they described as systematic ethnic profiling and stigmatisation following a recent wave of high-profile kidnappings in the state.
The demonstration highlights growing ethno-regional tensions in southwest Nigeria, a region historically insulated from the mass school abductions that have plagued the country’s northern states for a decade.
Gathering in significant numbers, the protesters expressed deep frustration over being collectively blamed for the activities of armed criminal gangs.
The Hausa community leaders stated that the actions of a few criminal elements should not be used to label an entire ethnic group, emphasizing that law-abiding Hausa residents are equally victimised by the worsening insecurity and desire peace.
The demonstration follows weeks of simmering local anger and public pressure on security agencies, which protesters claim has increasingly translated into harassment, profiling, and unfair suspicion directed at northern traders and residents living in Oyo.
The trigger for the heightened tension is a catastrophic security breach that occurred nearly a month ago.
On May 15, 2026, gunmen wearing military camouflage launched coordinated, simultaneous raids on three schools across communities — including Yawota and Ahoro-Esinele — in the Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.
The attackers, who reportedly rode into the towns on motorcycles and fired shots to terrorise residents, forcefully marched victims into the vast forest reserves bordering the Old Oyo National Park.
A total of 46 individuals—39 pupils (some as young as two and three years old) and 7 teachers—were taken into captivity.
The raid turned lethal almost immediately: Joel Adegboye Adesiyan, a teacher was shot and killed on-site while attempting to protect his students from the abductors.
