THE Kaduna State government has announced the rescue of 180 students of Federal College of Forestry Mechanization kidnapped by gunmen in the late hours of Thursday.
The government said they were rescued by the Nigerian Army, revealing that 30 were still missing.
“Commissioner-Internal Security @samuelaruwan has confirmed the sad news of the attack on the Federal School of Forestry, Afaka. Troops rescued 180 persons, but about 30 students are missing. Families of the students have been briefed on this security emergency,” Governor Nasir El-Rufai said on his Twitter handle on Friday afternoon.
Earlier, Samuel Aruwan, commissioner for internal security had, in a statement confirming the abduction and rescue, disclosed that about 30 of the students were yet to be accounted for.
“180 rescued, several students missing following attack at Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, Igabi LGA. Troops of the Nigerian Army in the early hours of today, Friday, 12th March 2021 rescued 180 citizens, many of them students, at the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, Igabi local government area of Kaduna State” the statement read.
The ICIR had earlier reported that the abduction of an unspecified number students from Igabi Local Government Area of the state by gunmen.
Arunwa said in the statement that armed bandits in large number had attacked the institution at around 11:30pm on Thursday and kidnapped several students and staff.
The armed bandits, according to him, broke into the institution by breaching a perimeter fence and then encroached about 600 meters to attack the first facility.
“The Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs on receiving a distress call, alerted the 1 Division Nigerian Army and the Air Training Command of the Nigerian Air Force. Troops of the Nigerian Army immediately moved to the school and engaged the armed bandits accordingly.”
“The troops successfully rescued 180 citizens; 42 female students, eight staff and 130 male students. However, about 30 students, a mix of males and females, are yet to be accounted for. Some of the rescued students were injured and presently receiving medical attention at a military facility.”
The abduction is coming fewer than 48 hours after Aruwan presented the 2020 security situation report to the state governor, Nasir El-Rufai.
In the report, the commissioner had said that bandits killed no fewer than 937 persons, kidnapped 1,972 persons, and rustled 7,195 cattle in the state in 2020.
So far, nearly 800 students have been abducted since December and this is the third kidnapping of students from their schools in 2021 in Nigeria.
Olayinka works with The ICIR as the Social Media Manager, Reporter and Fact-checker. You can shoot him an email via [email protected]. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @BelloYinka72