Ibadan, Nigeria – February 13, 2026 – The Oyo State Police Command has confirmed the abduction of a 12-year-old student in the Challenge area of Ibadan, intensifying concerns over rising insecurity in the state.
The victim, a Junior Secondary School 2 (JSS2) student of Monarch Model College, was reportedly kidnapped on the morning of Thursday, February 12, while being dropped off at school by her mother, according to reports by Eyes of Lagos.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers, described as armed and masked, arrived in an unmarked vehicle, following the girl and her mother before striking at a junction near the school premises.
The assailants allegedly fired gunshots into the air to intimidate residents and punctured the tyre of the mother’s Toyota RAV4 with Lagos registration number KRD 350 GP. Despite the mother’s efforts to intervene, the gunmen forcefully abducted the girl and fled through the Challenge axis of Ibadan.
The incident was promptly reported at Orita Challenge Police Station, where officers, accompanied by the victim’s mother, launched a preliminary investigation.
Confirming the abduction, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Oyo State Command, DSP Olusola Olayinka Ayanlade, stated:
“Preliminary information indicates that at about 7:20 a.m., a 12-year-old female student of a private secondary school in the area was allegedly abducted by unknown armed men at a junction leading to the school premises as she was alighting from the vehicle that conveyed her to school.”
DSP Ayanlade added that detectives were immediately deployed, eyewitnesses questioned, and intelligence gathering intensified to locate the perpetrators.
He noted that the victim’s parents are working closely with law enforcement authorities.
Oyo State Commissioner of Police, CP Femi Haruna, has ordered a comprehensive, intelligence-led manhunt to ensure the safe recovery of the schoolgirl and the apprehension of those responsible.
The police assured the public that all available resources are being mobilised and urged residents to provide information that could assist the investigation.
The incident has renewed calls for enhanced security measures around schools and residential neighborhoods across Ibadan and the wider Oyo State.
