Toyin Falola
The heartless murderers slaughtered the innocent schoolteacher…They did, not with any noble sense of purpose, as such nobility does not exist among savages and reavers, but for money. The money that has corrupted the land, reuniting the slave traders of old with the thieves of the moment.
As a teenager, I worked temporarily at an abattoir, and we must pray for forgiveness before killing an animal for food. As you take the knife, you must proclaim Bismillah.
Allahumma minka wa laka, Allahumma taqabbal minni.
O Allah, this is from You and for You. O Allah, accept this from me.
Michael Oyedokun was treated worse than an animal. His blood is on many people, not just his killers. Who did he offend? Who do we offend? God, why is our punishment so unbearable? The ransom his killers are awaiting is worse than the thirty pieces of silver that Judas Iscariot collected to betray Jesus.
The chalk still rested.
between his fingers
When they came.
Morning had barely opened.
its tired eyes over the village.
Children were already gathering—
sandals dusty, uniforms faded,
hope folded inside exercise books
like sacred paper prayers.
He had taught them
that rivers remember their sources,
that history is a mirror,
that words can rescue a nation
from darkness.
He believed
too deeply perhaps
in the stubborn power of learning.
So, he stood every day.
before cracked blackboards
like a farmer planting light
into hungry minds.
Then violence arrived—
not as thunder,
But as men
whose hearts had forgotten
the sound of mercy.
Gunfire shattered the morning.
Birds fled the mango trees.
Children screamed into the dust.
And there,
before unfinished lessons
and half-written arithmetic,
Their teacher fell.
The alphabet was scattered beside him.
like wounded birds.
Who kills a teacher
kills more than a man.
They murder tomorrow.
They slaughter memory.
They place fire
inside the library of the people.
His blood entered the soil.
where cassava grows,
where mothers wait,
where the nation endlessly searches
for itself.
That evening,
The classroom remained open.
A piece of chalk
still lay near the board,
and on it,
His final unfinished sentence:
“Education is…”
No child could complete it.
without tears.
Yet somewhere beyond grief,
his voice survives—
in every girl who still carries books,
in every boy who still dares to read
beneath broken roofs and failing light,
in every teacher
Who enters a classroom?
despite fear.
Nigeria,
How many of your gentle ones
must die before wisdom is guarded
more fiercely than power?
The teacher is gone,
But his lesson remains:
A nation that abandons its teachers
stands at the edge
of its own silence.
A nation that allows its teachers to be slaughtered
Has imposed a mortal curse on itself.
His death is a curse.
A village named positively as Oriire (good luck) is converted negatively to Oriburuku (bad luck). What hope remains to the Oriire community? Our emotional pain is deep. Curses are upon us, and all the religious people in the land must engage in endless prayers. This is not the time to forgive our enemies. Whosoever prays for the forgiveness of the killers of Michael Oyedokun will end the same way.
Cursed be the hands
that carried death into the dawn,
that silenced chalk and wisdom
with bullets, blades, and cowardice.
Cursed be the hearts
that saw a teacher not as a guardian of light
but as prey for darkness.
For Michael Oyedokun
carried no weapon but knowledge,
no shield but patience,
no ambition but to shape tomorrow.
He walked among children.
planting futures in fragile soil,
writing hope upon dusty boards,
believing that learning could rescue a nation
from the jaws of ignorance.
But evil came in the night,
merciless and hollow-eyed,
and struck down a man
whose only crime was service.
May the earth reject the memory
of those who feast upon innocent blood.
May their sleep be haunted
by the cries of orphaned dreams.
May every lesson he taught
rise as testimony against them.
A teacher does not truly die.
His voice lingers in the minds he awakened,
His kindness survives in the lives he shaped,
His labor becomes a river.
flowing beyond the reach of murderers.
And though Nigeria weeps today,
Though classrooms mourn in silence,
The name of Michael Oyedokun
shall stand taller than the shadows that felled him.
Peace to the noble teacher.
Shame upon the destroyers of light.
This is not a good omen for the future of this great nation. My heart is with the family of this martyr.
My heart bleeds for the future of this country. For how long shall we continue like this? For how long shall we continue to shed innocent blood? For how long shall we continue to hope for the best for this country? No one is safe, even in the classroom. Adieu, my dear brother.
I am speechless and currently traumatized. I can’t imagine that a group of menagerie could abduct children, teachers, including nursing mothers and decided to slaughter, as one would a goat, the mathematics teacher, Mr Michael Oyedokun, to prove their bestiality. These definitely are not human beings and when apprehended they should not be spared either. They should be subjected to slow death. Perhaps it will serve as a deterrent to others. Meanwhile, when some State Government tried to clear the Government reserved forests of criminals, it was Miyetti Allah group and Sheik Gumi that were making a hell of noise to oppose such moves by all State governments in Southern Nigeria. This is the time to brace up, and flush out all criminals in those forests. Oyedokun must not die in vain. Government must wake up to its responsibility of ensuring the safety of the masses! DAO
I have stopped reading these stories coming from Nigeria. They add to my migraines. They make me sick. I don’t want to have another set of brain surgeries. I’ve had one too many. When your skull has been opened on three spots, you would do anything to avoid a repeat. The tragedy of Nigeria’s mismanagement as underscored by this heart-rending catastrophe is another brain-damaging saga that every sane society should avoid. Where are the kabiyesis, local government chairmen, the governors, and, of course, the president under whose watch all these have been going on and on at will without serious consequences? Lord have mercy! Politicians are too busy buying votes from the uninformed citizens, campaigning about their futures in a government that only cares for the one making those empty campaign promises, they don’t give a damn whose child, brother, sister, mother, father, friend or colleague is being slaughtered in the jungle we call home! Where is th military government that instituted firing squad in Nigeria when armed robbers would not let citizens rest? Why can’t the same decree be enacted, so that anyone caught in banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery, and any other violent crime against the people be subjected to such heavy sanction? Our nation is sick. May God heal us and heal us NOW through the hands of the people!
It was such a traumatic sight to behold.
As I watched, I could almost hear my heart screaming in fear, grief and confusion, asking what kind of future truly lies ahead for us in this society.
A teacher, an embodiment of knowledge, guidance and hope brutally slaughtered in cold blood. Someone whose duty was to nurture minds and shape lives reduced to another horrifying headline.
It is painful that those entrusted with building the future now live in fear within the very society they strive to serve. Violence has become so rampant that human life is gradually losing its value before our eyes.
Honestly, somewhere along the line, we’ve been failed morally, socially and collectively as a people. This is heartbreaking beyond words.
Without any iota of doubt, our land is under siege! How can a nation make progress in all this chaos? How can a people be productive in an atmosphere of utmost uncertainty? For how long more are we to witness these mindless and senseless killings? Can Nigeria overcome this lingering insecurity challenge that has become an industry?
It was such a traumatic sight to behold.
As I watched, I could almost hear my heart screaming in fear, grief and confusion, asking what kind of future truly lies ahead for us in this society.
A teacher, an embodiment of knowledge, guidance and hope brutally slaughtered in cold blood. Someone whose duty was to nurture minds and shape lives reduced to another horrifying headline.
It is painful that those entrusted with building the future now live in fear within the very society they strive to serve. Violence has become so rampant that human life is gradually losing its value before our eyes.
Honestly, somewhere along the line, we’ve been failed morally, socially and collectively… This is heartbreaking beyond words