BANDITS have abducted scores of students, alongside some teachers of Local Education Authority (LEA) Primary School, Kuriga (1), Kaduna state, Daily Trust reports.
The incident occurred around 8:30 am on Thursday, March 7, while the students assembled for their morning brief.
Although the number of persons abducted hasn’t been ascertained as of press time, locals who spoke to Daily Trust said they were at least 100.
The Headteacher of the school and some other staff were reportedly among the victims. According to Shitu, a resident of the town, most of the pupils ran out of their classes when they sighted the bandits on the school premises.
Another resident, Lawal Kuriga, also told Daily Trust that abducted victims were marched into the forest.
The State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Mansir Hassan, couldn’t be reached on the phone and is yet to reply to a text message sent to him too.
Similarly, the state government hasn’t yet reacted to the incident as of the time of filing this report.
This is not the first case of abduction and kidnapping in Northwestern Nigeria, as bandits incessantly rampaged several communities in the region.
In 2019, armed bandits attacked the Government Girls Secondary School, Moriki, in Zurü local government area of Zamfara State, kidnapping several students and teachers.
This attack was the second when hoodlums attacked a secondary school and abducted students in President Muhammadu Buhari’s first term in office, despite the administration’s claim of having improved security across the country, according to the report.
The first was in February 2018 when 110 school girls were abducted by Boko Haram from their school dormitory in Dapchi, Yobe State. Some of the girls, numbering 104, were released a month later following negotiations between the government and Boko Haram.
However, five died in custody while one, Leah Sharibu, is still being held because she refused to convert to Islam.
There were many other cases of bandits’ attacks in Kaduna and other northern states that have claimed several lives. Despite the security operatives repelling some of the attacks, the terrorists have managed to record many feats.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M