One of the teachers of the Local Government Education Authority Primary and Secondary School (LGEA) in Kuriga village in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Sani Abdullahi has narrated how over 200 students were abducted.
THE WHISTLER reports that armed men stormed the school on Thursday and abducted over 200 students.
Abdullahi, who disclosed that the abducted students were a total of 287, stated that the bandits surrounded the school premises and asked everyone on sight to head to the bush.
The teacher who was speaking when the Governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani led government officials to the scene of the incident on Thursday evening, said the bandits took them by surprise.
“I resumed school today at exactly 7:47 am. 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. The pupils, who were about 700, also followed us,” he said.
Abdullahi further stated that in the course of the confusion that followed, he was able to escape with some other students.
“I returned to the village and reported what happened to the community. Immediately, our vigilantes and personnel of the Kaduna State Vigilante Service (KADVIS) followed the bandits,” he said.
He, however, stated that the vigilantes were not able to rescue the abducted students, adding that one of the vigilantes was killed in the process.
“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 returned home,” he said.
Speaking to the community, the governor promised to do everything to ensure that students returned unhurt.
“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.
“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. The essence of government is protection of citizens’ lives and property. We recognized the fact that we are holding this position in trust for the people and by God’s grace, we will protect the citizens’ rights,” he said.
The governor, who stated that he was one of the prominent voices on the issue of insecurity in Nigeria, maintained that State Policing will be able to curb the issue of insecurity in the country.
“When I was in the Senate, I moved the motion for the creation of State Police. We have realised that there are not enough boots on ground. That is why we feel that if there is State Police, every community like Kuriga will have people in the Police and they would be armed with AK-47 rifles. That is the only way we would be able to protect the lives and property of the citizens. The vigilantes are not as armed as the bandits, because they don’t have AK-47. That is why the bandits are constantly causing us destruction. They come in to humiliate, kill and abduct our citizens.”
While urging the community to be calm as the government will not rest until the children are back to their families, he promised to establish a Police Station and military camp in the community.
“Since I received the sad news of this incident, I have not had any rest because every child in Kaduna state is my child. So, I don’t want you people to be disturbed. Let us pray to God to help and on our part as a government, we will not rest until these children return home. We are going to select seven people from this community, who will be part of a committee, where we will be having discussions,” he said.
Teacher Explains How Over 200 Students Were Abducted In Kaduna School is first published on The Whistler Newspaper