Traditional religious adherents in Abeokuta, Ogun State, have conducted spiritual rituals at Olumo Rock and other sacred sites, seeking divine intervention for the safe release of more than 40 pupils and teachers abducted from three schools in Oyo State nearly three weeks ago.
The rites, led by Dr Omolara Fashola-MacGregor, wife of the Olu of Orile-Ilawo, Oba Alexander Olusegun MacGregor, featured prayers, libations, and invocations of ancestral deities. Participants, dressed in traditional attire, called for the safe return of the victims and for spiritual justice against those behind the mid-May attack, which also led to the killing of an assistant headmaster.
Speaking during the ceremony, Dr Fashola-MacGregor said the community’s spiritual appeal was borne out of concern for the abducted victims.
“The cries of these innocent school children have reached the heavens,” she said. “We are invoking the spirit of our ancestors and the potent deities of our land to go into the deepest forests. May those who have taken these children find no sleep, no peace, and no safety until every single child and teacher is returned unharmed.”