By Albab Abdullahi ✍️
In every civilized country and in every true religious teaching, negotiators are sacred. They are messengers of peace. They carry hope where there is fear. They speak for life when death is close. Even when talks are hard and danger is real, their role is respected. Their lives are not to be touched. History remembers them as heroes who save souls without firing a gun.
But in Oyo, that sacred rule was shattered in cold blood.
Two negotiators went into the bandits’ hideout to secure the release of abducted children. Their only weapons were words and goodwill. They went to find a way for peace, to bring terrified kids back to their parents. What did they meet? Death. The bandits did not see human beings. They did not see peace ambassadors. They saw targets. Another massacre happened. Blood was spilled on the very ground where negotiation was supposed to bring life.
This is not just murder. This is a deep insult to humanity itself.
These bandits have shown they respect nothing — not childhood, not motherhood, not even the people who come to talk peace. When those who risk their lives to save others are slaughtered, it sends a clear and bloody message: these criminals want more than money. They want fear. They want control. They want to prove that no one is safe, not even those trying to end the nightmare.
This evil is not only in Oyo. It is happening across Nigeria. Kidnapping for ransom has become a deadly business. Families cry, communities live in terror, and negotiators are increasingly becoming victims themselves. Each time this happens, it proves the same painful truth: the system is failing.
This is a loud wake-up call to the government and security agencies. How long will innocent people, including those trying to solve the problem, continue to die? How long will hideouts remain untouched while negotiators are killed in them? The blood of these two men is a letter written in red — demanding serious action, not speeches.
Nigeria must rise above this shame. We cannot continue like this. The lives of negotiators must be protected. The lives of our children must be protected. The time for excuses is over. The time for real results is now.
May the souls of the slain negotiators rest in peace, and may their death force the change Nigeria desperately needs.
