Air Force, drones failed to penetrate forest canopy in Oyo rescue, says Army commander

Major General Chinedu Nnebeife, the General Officer Commanding the Nigerian Army's 2 Division, revealed that aerial surveillance efforts by the Nigerian Air Force and drone teams were unsuccessful in penetrating the thick forest canopy of the Old Oyo National Park. This failure hampered the operation to track down terrorists holding 44 abducted pupils and teachers in Oyo State.

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Because of the nature of the forest, how thick it is, we had drone teams, we have Nigerian Air Force following up, but in some of those areas, you can’t even see, if you are under that base, you can’t see the rays of sunlight from those places and the Air Force flew, they couldn’t see anything.

Nnebeife explained that the dense foliage prevented aerial teams from spotting anything, forcing the military to rely on a ground assault. "Because of the nature of the forest, how thick it is, we had drone teams, we have Nigerian Air Force following up, but in some of those areas, you can’t even see, if you are under that base, you can’t see the rays of sunlight from those places and the Air Force flew, they couldn’t see anything," he stated.

This reliance on ground operations led to casualties. During one such operation, an officer and a soldier were killed, and others were wounded, one seriously with a gunshot-induced broken arm. The setback prompted Nnebeife to assume full command, coordinating a wider array of forces and intelligence assets from national security agencies.

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The drone team also flew, we didn’t get anything from those things and that was how we insisted on ground operation.

The extensive ground effort involved a special unit from the Office of the National Security Adviser, the National Counter-Terrorism Unit tactical team, and Defence Headquarters Special Forces personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, Department of State Services, Civil Defence, and the National Intelligence Agency. The Nigerian Police, a DSS team from Oyo State, and an Air Force Tactical Operations Group unit also participated, alongside troops forming a blocking force on the state's northern flank.

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It has to be ground, we have to go deep into the forest, and it’s during one of these operations that we lost the officer and the soldier, that particular day, and some other ones who were wounded.

An earlier attempt to reach the victims, conducted with local hunters and vigilantes shortly after the abduction, also proved unsuccessful, with some hunters losing their lives during the broader operation. The victims had been held captive for 56 days after gunmen stormed three schools on May 15.

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We went in with some hunters and local vigilantes, but nothing positive happened that day.