PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has directed the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, to immediately relocate to Kebbi State.
A statement on Thursday, November 20, by presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, noted that the directive was part of efforts to intensify the rescue over 20 students abducted during an early-morning attack on Government Girls’ Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, in Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area.
The ICIR reported on Monday, November 17, that the state police command confirmed that armed men invaded the school around 4 a.m., killing the school’s vice principal and abducting several students.
Police spokesperson Nafi’u Abubakar said the attackers scaled the school fence before opening fire and whisking away 25 students from their hostel.
“The police tactical units deployed in the school engaged them into a gun duel but the suspected bandits had already abducted them in their hostel,” he said.
Also confirming the incident, the Chairman of Danko/Wasagu LGA, Hussaini Bena, told The ICIR that the gunmen stormed the school while shooting sporadically.
Meanwhile, the president said he had instructed Matawalle to remain in Kebbi to coordinate security operations aimed at securing the release of the abducted schoolgirls.
Matawalle, a former governor of Zamfara State, is expected in Birnin Kebbi on Friday.
According to Onanuga, Matawalle previously handled several large-scale kidnapping crises during his tenure, including the February 26, 2021 abduction of 279 students from Government Girls Science Secondary School, Jangebe, who were released days later.
Onanuga also said Tinubu had postponed his scheduled trips to Johannesburg, South Africa, and Luanda, Angola, to receive continuous security briefings on both the Kebbi school attack and the abduction of worshippers at Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku, Kwara State.
The ICIR reports that terrorists have been on the prowl in Nigeria. Since 2011, when the conflict, which began in the North-East, escalated, thousands of people have died and hundreds of thousands displaced across the North, especially in rural communities where security response is slow or absent.
Following his appointment in August 2023, The ICIR reported how Mattawalle’s previous role as governor was marked by heavy criticisms due to insecurity issues that plagued Zamfara State under his watch.
Mattawalle, who served as the governor of Zamfara State between May 2019 and 2023, left the state as one of the worst hit by terrorist attacks in Nigeria.
Attacks by a group of terrorists known as bandits went rampant under his watch leading to the killing of thousands of people in the state and across the North-West region of the country.
During Matawalle’s tenure, agriculture, the major source of income for the state residents, suffered devastation as terrorists imposed protection levies before allowing farmers to cultivate farmlands or harvest crops.
Some measures he introduced to address the challenge include shutting down telecommunication, restriction of vehicular movements, shutdown of markets and directing police to allow the residents to bear arms .They failed to end the menace.
Before Mattawalle left office, terrorist activities such as abductions, looting, and killings escalated throughout the state.
In some parts of the state, the terrorists ran parallel administration, collecting taxes and levies and making laws.
Read the terror series here
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M