Police in Kebbi State have cautioned residents against embarking on any form of protest over the recent abduction of students of Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga.
In a statement issued by the Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Nafiu Abubakar Kotarkoshi, the command said it had received intelligence indicating that some groups and non-governmental organisations were planning to stage demonstrations in reaction to the incident.
Kotarkoshi noted that the current security situation in the state remains fragile and unsuitable for protests or public gatherings, warning that such actions could trigger violence and disrupt ongoing rescue operations.
“While the police acknowledge the public concern over the abduction, the command views any planned protest as misguided and counterproductive,” he said.
He stressed that demonstrations at this time could undermine the efforts of security agencies working to secure the safe release of the kidnapped schoolgirls.
The PPRO reaffirmed the command’s commitment to protecting lives and property and maintaining public peace. He urged residents to support security operations by reporting suspicious movements to the nearest police station or other security agency.
Gunmen from a criminal gang kidnapped 25 people and killed a staff member in an early morning raid on a northwestern Nigerian girls’ secondary school on Monday, police said.
The latest attack comes more than a decade after nearly 300 girls were abducted from Chibok in the restive northeastern region and sparked international outcry.
Since then, there has been a string of other abductions involving school children.
Police on Monday said the gang armed with “sophisticated weapons, shooting sporadically, stormed the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School” in Kebbi state at about 4:00 am (0300 GMT).
Police were deployed but “unfortunately, the suspected bandits had already scaled through the fence of the school and abducted twenty-five students from their hostel to unknown destination,” police said in a statement.
The school deputy head was shot dead while a security guard was injured during the attack, according to a report prepared for the United Nations.
The military, police tactical units and local vigilantes have “been deployed in the area and they are currently combing the bandits’ routes and nearby forest” in a bid rescue the abducted students and arrest the gangs, police said.
Nigeria’s northwest has for years been seeing a rise in heavily armed criminal gangs known as “bandits” who steal cattle, raid villages, kidnap and kill residents and loot and burn homes.
