No fewer than 42 people, including 27 students, were kidnapped when bandits attacked Government Science Secondary School, Kagara in Niger State. Th
No fewer than 42 people, including 27 students, were kidnapped when bandits attacked Government Science Secondary School, Kagara in Niger State.
The Niger Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Muhammad Idris, who made this known, also said the whereabouts of three teachers are unknown.
According to him, 12 family members of the teachers were also abducted during the attack. Idris added that one student, whose identity is yet to be given, was killed.
About 650 students were in the school when gunmen attacked them late Tuesday.
“They kidnapped 42 people from the school. They took away 27 students, along with three teachers. They also kidnapped 12 family members of the teachers,” Idris told AFP.
This is coming barely two months after over 300 students were kidnapped in nearby Katsina State. The boys were later released but the incident sparked global outrage.
President Muhammadu Buhari in a statement, condemned the abductions and ordered a rescue operation but did not confirm how many students were missing.
“The President has directed the Armed Forces and Police, to ensure immediate and safe return of all the captives,” presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement.
He urged security forces “to do all that can be done to bring an end to this saga, and avoid such cowardly attacks on schools in the future.”
Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger state had earlier ordered the immediate closure of all boarding schools in Rafi, Mariga, Munya, and Shiroro local government areas of the state as a security measure to save the life of the students.
The governor also insisted that his government will not pay any ransom to kidnappers to release the abducted students and staff members of Government Science College in Kagara.
Meanwhile the federal government security delegation has arrived Niger to coordinate the rescue operation. The delegation include: the National Security Adviser (NSA), the inspector general of police, the inspector general of and minister of police affairs among others.
