The Nigeria Police Force has rescued Mrs Olaide Busayo Adegoke John-Paul, the younger sister of former Minister of Power and APC governorship aspirant in Oyo State, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, alongside her 12 year old twin sons, Peter and Paul, after three days in captivity.
The victims were freed alive at about 7.30pm on Saturday, June 6, 2026, in what police sources described as a coordinated operation that ended in a gun duel with the kidnappers, leaving two suspects dead and two firearms recovered.
The rescue closes a tense chapter that began on the morning of Wednesday, June 3, when armed men intercepted Mrs John-Paul in Ibadan as she was taking the children to school.
Multiple reports identified the location around the Challenge and Elewura axis of the city, with the family’s vehicle later found abandoned at the scene.
The family quickly confirmed the abduction through Adelabu’s media aide, Comrade Femi Awogboro, who said the matter had been reported to security agencies and that efforts were under way to secure the victims’ release.
In the family’s first public response, Awogboro appealed for restraint and prayers, saying, “We are deeply distressed by this unfortunate incident but remain hopeful that the victims will be rescued safely.”
He also asked members of the public to “remain calm, avoid speculation” and avoid circulating unverified information that could hinder rescue efforts.
Those early words now read like a grim snapshot of the anxiety that gripped the family and the wider political circle in Oyo State while the children and their mother remained missing.
Governor Seyi Makinde also moved quickly, with Tribune reporting that he visited Adelabu and discussed the security response after the abduction.
In a post quoted by the newspaper, the governor said, “security agencies are working towards their safe return”, a statement that reflected the pressure on police and other operatives to produce results in a state already rattled by repeated attacks on roads, schools and rural communities.
The latest rescue is likely to intensify scrutiny of the kidnapping crisis in Oyo State, where the security mood has deteriorated sharply in recent weeks.
Punch reported that the APC linked the abduction to wider fears over unresolved kidnapping cases in the state, while former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said the incident showed that “no one was immune from Nigeria’s growing kidnapping crisis.”
That assessment is hard to dismiss in a state that has recently suffered mass abductions of schoolchildren and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area, an episode that has deepened public fear and exposed how vulnerable travel routes remain.
There is also a social and security lesson in the family’s profile. Reports show that Mrs John-Paul, 43, is the youngest of five children in the Adelabu family, a former staff member of the Central Bank of Nigeria and First Bank Pension Custodian who had retired voluntarily and relocated to Ibadan while preparing to join her husband in the United States.
That detail is important because it places the victims within an ordinary family routine, a school run, not a political convoy or a high risk overt operation, which is exactly why the abduction has caused such public outrage.
Police sources say the operation that secured their release followed sustained intelligence gathering and tactical pressure that forced a confrontation with the kidnappers.
The force now says a manhunt is continuing for other members of the syndicate, with some fleeing suspects believed to have escaped with gunshot wounds. That is welcome progress, but it also confirms a wider truth Nigerians already know too well. Kidnap gangs are not merely striking fast.
They are adapting, retreating into local terrain, and exploiting weak surveillance and overstretched response systems. Until that criminal network is broken, each rescue will feel like a victory in a war that still has no clear end.
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