Security agents have intensified their surveillance on the forest where abducted pupils and teachers from schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State are held by their Ansaru terrorists, it was learnt at the weekend.
Because of the cordoning off of the forest, the abductors are under intense pressure, which has now made them relax their demands, it was gathered.
Security sources said they might have dropped their initial demands for the release of their jailed leaders and are now asking for ransom and freedom for some foot soldiers of the group who are under arrest and in the Department of State Service (DSS) custody.
Leaders of Ansaru whose release was demanded are: Mahmud Usman, also known as Abu Bara’a or Abbas Mukhtar, and his deputy, Abubakar Abba, alias Isah Adam or Mahmud Al-Nigeri.
“The terrorists are no longer insisting on the release of two of their leaders from jail. They are asking for the release of less important members of their group under arrest and some ransom,” the security source explained.
It was learnt that the leader of the abductors is a Northerner who was born in Ogbomoso and grew up in the Oriire area.
“It is possible that he ran from Kogi when the heat was turned on them before moving to the kidnapping of soft targets in Oriire and the environment which he is familiar with, having spent his early life there,” the security official added.
The forest outside oriire where the abductors are keeping their victims is a large one stretching from the Oyo National Park unto Kainji in Niger State.
