Former Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has waded into the ongoing controversy over the mass abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Oyo State, telling Governor Seyi Makinde pointblank that President Bola Tinubu will not fly from Abuja to the state to tackle kidnapping and general insecurity.

Fayose, speaking in a television interview, maintained that Makinde bears primary responsibility for the security situation in his state and must take the first concrete steps before seeking presidential intervention. He charged the Oyo governor to deploy his security votes decisively to confront the crisis, insisting that governance demands accountability at every level before passing the buck to the Federal Government.

“I stand by what I said about Governor Makinde,” the former governor declared. “Before you get to Abuja you will get to the local and state governments. The Governor of Oyo can’t say he is not collecting allocation and there is no governor while on the seat that never had issues of kidnapping or security challenges.”

The remarks come against the backdrop of the recent abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in the Ogbomoso and Oriire Local Government Areas of Oyo State, a crisis that has sent shockwaves across the country and ignited fierce political debate. One of the abducted teachers, Michael Oyedokun, was subsequently killed by the terrorists, deepening national outrage and intensifying pressure on both the state and federal governments to act.

Fayose went further in his criticism of Makinde, raising eyebrows with the explosive allegation that the Oyo State government may have orchestrated the kidnapping in a bid to blackmail President Tinubu and embarrass his administration ahead of the 2027 general elections. The allegation drew swift and furious condemnation from several quarters, with Governor Makinde himself hitting back, urging politicians to stop playing politics with what he described as a time of national distress.

“This is a time of national distress. It is not the time to trade blame or play politics,” Makinde said, adding that the federal government had deployed security operatives to the state in response to the crisis. He emphasised that the perpetrators were not normal human beings and that their capture required careful, coordinated security action rather than reckless political point-scoring.

The war of words between the two politicians has added a combustible political dimension to an already deeply painful humanitarian crisis, as families of the abducted students and teachers continue to wait anxiously for news of their loved ones’ safe return.