Reps, AI condemn kidnap epidemic as bandits abduct dozens of Kaduna school pupils

• Teacher narrates how terrorists invaded school, abducted 280 students
• Gov Sani pledges return of kidnapped victims
• Gunmen raid banks in Kogi, abduct expatriate, kill security operatives
• Free 300 kidnapped women in Borno, Reps task security agencies
• Sack incompetent service chiefs now, HURIWA tells Tinubu

In a repeat of mass abductions in the North since the infamous April 2014 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping, bandits yesterday attacked a government primary school at Kuriga community of Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, abducting scores of pupils.

An unspecified number of pupils and teachers were reportedly abducted by terrorists during an attack on the school. Residents said the gunmen invaded the school immediately after morning assembly. The community is located along the Kaduna-Birnin-Gwari road that has been terrorised by bandits for many years.

At least 100 of the pupils and some of the school’s teachers are believed to have been abducted, a resident said, asking not to be named for security reasons.

The source said the bandits invaded the school at 8:30am riding on motorcycles and took away many pupils including the head teacher. He said that many students sustained injuries as they attempted to flee the school on sighting the bandits and one pupil was killed in the process. The students were between the ages of eight and 15.

The source said: “The bandits came when the assembly was almost over, surrounded the whole school and forcefully carted away more than 200 students from the primary and secondary sections, including one teacher. The gunmen also shot one boy during the operation and was rushed to hospital by the school authority for treatment.”

When The Guardian called the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Muhammed Lawal Shehu, he said: “We are on our way to the village, please chat me up on WhatsApp, I will respond.” There was no further comment on the matter after.

Civil rights activist and former lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, while reacting to the incident said, “it is tragic to hear that 232 students have just been kidnapped in Kuriga village, Chikun Local Government Area in Kaduna State.”

Sani’s reaction was on his X handle (former Twitter), saying that “it’s the same village where a school principal, Idris Sufyan, was killed and his wife kidnapped over a month ago. However, I’m optimistic their freedom will be secured.”

The Kaduna State Government is yet to speak on the incident. Attempts to reach the Commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, were not successful .

The police spokesperson in the state, ASP Mansir Hassan, confirmed the incident, noting that the number of the victims abducted had not yet been ascertained.

“It’s true kidnapping occurred, presently we have deployed additional security personnel to the bush to rescue the victims.

“All the security agencies in the state, police, military, Vigilante and other security agencies have put their heads together and are presently in that bush working hard to rescue the victims,” he added.

Three weeks ago, a wanted kidnapper and ruthless killer, Isyaku Boderi, was killed by security forces in the Chikun local government with some of his lieutenants. It was not immediately clear whether Thursday’s incident was connected to his killing.

Boderi allegedly led the March 11, 2021 abduction of 39 students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, and the August 24, 2021 deadly attack on a campus of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), both in Afaka, Igabi LGA of Kaduna State.

Bandit attacks in the Northwest part of the country have been on the increase in recent times, with residents taking to the streets to protest the ugly trend. On Tuesday, residents of Kankara Local Government Area in Katsina State embarked on yet another protest over incessant bandit attacks in their community.

A teacher of Government Secondary School, Kuriga, Sani Abdullahi, has narrated how bandits invaded the joint secondary and primary school and whisked away about 280 pupils and teachers. He gave the account when the governor, Senator Uba Sani, led senior government officials and security top brass to the scene of the kidnapping attack Thursday evening.

According to him: “I resumed at exactly 7:47am. I entered the Acting Principal’s office and signed. All of a sudden, the Acting Principal asked me to look at my back and when I turned, we discovered that bandits had surrounded the school premises. We became confused, we didn’t know where to go. Then, the bandits asked us to enter the bush, so we obeyed them because they were many and the pupils were about 700 following us. So, when we entered the bush, I was lucky to escape alongside many other people.

“So, I returned to the village and reported what happened to the community. So, immediately our vigilante and personnel of KADVS followed the bandits, but the vigilante did not succeed, in fact, the bandits killed one of the vigilante, we just buried him a shore hike ago.

“It was when we came back from that pursuit that we briefed the Village Head and we started making efforts to know the actual number of pupils and teachers taken away by the bandits.

“At GSS Kuriga, 187 students are presently missing. In the primary school, 125 pupils were initially missing, but, 25 of them escaped and retured home,” he narrated.

Meanwhile, in his reaction, Sani said: “In my capacity as your governor, I am assuring you that, by the grace of God, all the children will return unhurt. Before coming here, I spoke with the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, and we are making efforts, the security forces have swung into action and by God’s grace, we will rescue the children.

“We will do whatever we need to do to ensure safe return of these children, even if it means coming to Kuriga to stay with you. The essence of government is protection of citizens’ lives and property. We recognize the fact that, we are holding this position in truant for the people and by God’s grace, we will protect the citizens’ rights.”

While addressing the community members, Governor Sani also promised to establish a Police Station and build a permanent camp for the military in the community.

MEANWHILE, the House of Representatives on Thursday called on security agencies to free 300 women kidnapped in Borno State while fetching firewood in the bush. Moving a motion on matter of urgent public importance on the floor of the House, member representing Bama/Ngala/Kalabalge Federal Constituency of Borno, Zainab Gimba, described the abduction as worrisome as the April 2014 abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok.

Suspected Boko Haram members had on Wednesday stormed an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Gamboru Ngala town in Borno and abducted scores of the IDPs, most of whom are women.

According to Gimba, this is the second largest abduction after the Chibokgirls kidnapping by Boko Haram in April 2014 even though some of the girls are still in captivity.

She said “I want to bring to the notice of the House that about 300 women were abducted while fetching firewood for domestic and commercial purposes in my constituency. I am calling on security agencies to as a matter of urgency, see to the rescue of these women who went in search of their daily bread.

In his remarks, the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, who presided over plenary, described the incident as a sad development and called on security agents to step up their search for the abducted women.

“We, as a House, are pained that the families of the abducted persons are going through what they are going through now. In the spirit of the International Women Day Celebration tomorrow (Friday), we pray that these women and those still in captivity be freed from their abductors. There is no better way to celebrate Women Day without calling for the protection and release of these women”, he added.

Following the resolution of the House, the motion was referred to the Committee on Defence and National Emergency Management Agency.

In the same vein, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, on Thursday condemned the mass abductions by terrorists and bandits in Borno and Kaduna states within two days. The Speaker charged the military and other security agencies to go after the abductors and rescue the victims.

The Speaker decried that the attacks were coming at a time when the troubled Northeast and Northwest were about to get some respite from bandits and terrorist occupation.

The Speaker, while praying for the safe return of the abductees, urged the security agencies to deploy all resources for their rescue. The Speaker also stated that the 10th House under his leadership would do everything possible legislatively to increase the capacity of the military and paramilitary agencies towards security life and property across Nigeria.

Also, Amnesty International (AI) has expressed regrets and total condemnation of the abduction of 200 pupils with their teachers in Kuriga, Kaduna State. Calling on the Nigerian authorities to ensure their safe rescue, the global human rights body said that schools should be a place of safety, adding that no child should have to choose between their education and their life.

Reacting in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, Amnesty International appealed to Nigerian authorities to take concrete measures immediately to prevent attacks on schools. “We are calling on the Nigerian authorities to safely rescue the students and hold the suspected perpetrators to account.”

IN Kogi State, gunmen yesterday had a field day as they unleashed terror across the state, especially at Anyigba and Obangede in Adavi local government areas.

At Obagede, the gunmen abducted a Chinese national, just as his security guard, an operative of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, was killed.

Similarly, at Anyigba, the university town was attacked by persons suspected to be armed robbers, who stormed some commercial banks, where a security guard was reportedly killed. Unconfirmed reports said the gunmen first attacked the Anyigba Police Station and carted away arms and ammunition.

All efforts to reach the Kogi State Police Public Relations Officer, (PPRO) for confirmation failed as he promised to call our correspondent, after interfacing with their men at both locations.

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has advised President Bola Tinubu to sack his Service Chiefs before the whole nation ends up kidnapped. HURIWA alleged that President Tinubu is waiting for the security situation in Nigeria to deteriorate beyond remedy before he dismisses his security chiefs and the National Security Adviser.

The rights group said the President should prove naysayers wrong by dismissing his security heads who have only given Nigerian poor performance and fallacious excuses.

It maintained that the president needs to remove his non-performing service chiefs and the National Security Adviser now to appoint fresh security heads to salvage the nation from the avoidable heightened state of insecurity which the current heads of the security agencies have failed to do.

The group said the increasing spate of attacks by terrorists have exposed the empty propaganda by spokesmen of the military regarding what they called breakthroughs in the war on terror.

“They feed us with propaganda that they are eliminating top Commanders of terrorist groups but yet we keep reading about attacks by terrorists. So, who are these terrorists that have continued to bombard parts of Nigeria including Katsina, Borno, Benue and Kaduna states?”