At least 287 students and a principal, Abubakar Isah, were abducted on Thursday, February 7, when bandits invaded the Local Education Authority (LEA) Primary and Junior Secondary School, Kuriga, in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, a school teacher, Sani Abdullahi, has said.
Abdullahi revealed this during the visitation of Governor Uba Sani and some other state government officials to the school hours after the incident, noting that 187 students were abducted from the secondary school section and 125 from the primary school section, totalling 312 students.
The ICIR, on Thursday, reported how the assailants invaded the school and reportedly kidnapped over 100 children, alongside some staff of the school.
Abdullahi, who escaped the abduction along with others, said 25 of the pupils from the primary section had returned, leaving the number of abducted to 287.
“At GSS Kuriga, 187 students are presently missing. In the primary school, 125 pupils were initially missing, but 25 of them escaped and retired home,” Abdullahi told the governor.
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He also said a member of the Kaduna State Vigilante Service (KADVS) was killed by the bandits during the attack.
While narrating how the assailants invaded the school, Abdullahi said it was around 7:45am when he entered the acting principal’s office to sign his attendance.
“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 ordered us to enter the bush, so we obeyed them because they were many.
“So, when we entered the bush, I was lucky to escape alongside many other people. I returned to the village and reported what happened to the community. Immediately our vigilante and personnel of Kaduna Vigilante Service (KADVS) followed the bandits, but the vigilante did not succeed. The bandits killed one of the vigilante, we just buried him a short while ago.
“It was when we came back that we briefed the Village Head and we started making efforts to find out the actual number of pupils and teachers taken by the bandits,” Abdullahi told the Governor.
Governor Sani vows to rescue all abducted children
Meanwhile, reacting to the tragedy during his visit, the state governor, Sani pledged that the state government has started making efforts to rescue all abducted children.
“Before coming here, I spoke with the National Security Adviser (NSA), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, and we are making efforts. The security forces have swung into action, and by God’s grace, we will rescue the children,” the governor said.
“We will do whatever we need to do to ensure the safe return of these children, even if it means coming to Kuriga to stay with you.
He, however, emphasised on the importance of state police, noting that when he was in the Senate, he moved the motion for the creation of state police having realised that there were not enough boots on the ground.
According to him, with state police, every community like Kuriga would have people in the police, and they would be armed with AK47 rifles to protect the lives and property of the citizens.
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