Nigeria is sinking deeper into a state of anomie with the abduction of about 600 schoolchildren from their dormitory, at the Government Secondary School (GSSS), Kankara, Katsina State, by suspected bandits at about 9.45pm on Friday.
The Katsina incident, which happened barely eight days after Boko Haram slaughtered over 100 farmers in Borno State, among other violent incidents have continued to lend credence to the worsening insecurity in the country.
The schoolchildren’s abduction happened the day President Muhammadu Buhari landed in his home state of Katsina for a week’s private visit, where he was presented with a horse by Emir of Daura, Alhaji Farouk Umar Farouk.
See PDP reaction from the press statement to Mr. President
Terrorism: Account For 600 Kidnapped Katsina Students, PDP Tells Buhari
The PDP, standing with the entire Katsina people, charges President Mohammadu Buhari, as the commander-in-chief, who promised to lead from the front, to account for the abducted students, as the large-scale abduction happened a few hours after the President and his security machinery took over the state.
Our party holds as perplexing that at a time the people of Katsina should heaved a sigh of relief because of the presence of the President in his home state, the abduction happened right under Mr. President’s nose; in his home state, where he had gone holidaying.
This development has further exposed the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to manage high level security intelligence that ought to accompany a Presidential visit.
The PDP notes a distressing that President Buhari, who refused to honor an invitation by the house of representatives for a collective deliberation on security, could abandon his duty post for a holiday, leaving our nation flanks open for terrorists, bandits, vandals and insurgents.
The time of the attack buttresses the fact that President Buhari, as the commander-in-chief, is totally incapable of securing our Nation; the very reason there have been a widespread call by patriotic Nigerians that he should resign.
This insolence of Mr. President towards issue of National security compelled our caucus in the House of representatives to demand for his impeachment, which our party supports.
Our Party, the People’s Democratic Party, also believes that if President Buhari had listened to wise council as proffered by PDP and other Patriotic Nigerians, including their two chambers of National Assembly, to rejig the Nation’s security architecture, our situation would not have been deteriorated to this sorry state.
Moreover, this particular abduction of Mr. President’s home state, under his watch, raises further serious questions over this government’s capacity to fight insurgency.
This is more worrisome as the state government had been known to have established contacts with, as well as pampering bandits, which Mr. President abdicated his role and had refused to condemn.
The PDP demands that President Buhari should immediately quit his needless holidaying in Daura and go in search of, as well as the rescue of the abducted students, particularly having earlier admitted that issues of security are his exclusive responsibility.
Our party sympathizes with the people of Kastina state, particularly with the parents of the kidnapped students, is who have been subjected to harrowing experience occasioned by the incompetence of the Buhari’s administration.
More than 300 students are missing after the attack on the Government Science Secondary School, a boys’ school in Kankara, on Friday night, the 11th December 2020, Katsina governor Aminu Masari said.
A joint rescue operation was launched Saturday by Nigeria’s police, air force and army, according to the government. The military was in gunfights with the bandits after locating their hideout in the Zango/Paula forest Saturday, according to a statement by President Muhammadu Buhari.
When the school was attacked, police engaged in a gunfight with the gunmen, allowing many students to scale the school’s fence and run for safety, according to Katsina State police spokesman Gambo Isah. The school has more than 600 students.
HOURS after the abduction of the pupils, Governor Aminu Bello Masari, ordered the closure of all boarding secondary schools across the state to forestall a reoccurrence.
One of the school’s teachers who spoke on condition of anonymity said the bandits launched the attack shortly after prep by shooting into the air, a development that led to commotion and stampede.
He said the school has over 880 students, with the exception of JS3 and SS3 students, who are now out of school, and that 600 students were yet to return to the school several hours after the attack.
“We are still hoping that some of them might return. We believe some of them fled the attack and ran into the bushes,” he said, adding that the bandits, after gathering the students in one place, moved them towards Pauwa, a neighboring village, where they were carted away.
Masari, who abandoned an earlier scheduled event, yesterday morning to head to Kankara to ascertain the situation, ordered the immediate closure of all boarding secondary schools across the state.
Accompanied by his deputy, Mannir Yakubu, and other government officials, Masari met with the school officials, some parents, traditional and religious leaders, as well as security officials.
He pleaded with the people to be patient, show restraint and understanding while assuring that government would do every necessary thing to ensure the release of all abducted pupils.
Governor Masari further assured that both governments at federal and state levels were doing their best to bring an end to banditry and other criminal activities in the state. According to him, the government is very firm in its resolve to be ruthless in any engagement with the bandits.
A spokesperson for the State Police Command, Gambo Isah, a superintendent of police who earlier confirmed the incident, however, said the actual number of kidnapped, or missing students was being investigated.
According to Isah: “On 11/12/2020 at about 21:40hrs, bandits in their numbers, shooting sporadically with AK-47 rifles, attacked Government Science Secondary School, Kankara.
“The policemen on duty also responded to the attack and engaged them in a gun duel, which gave the students the opportunity to scale the fence of the school and run for safety.
“The DPO reinforced the policemen on duty with Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC), which forced the hoodlums to retreat back into the forest.
Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has ordered the deployment of additional operational and investigative assets to support the ongoing search and rescue operations. The deployment, which includes personnel from the Police Tactical Squads, and crack detectives from the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB), will provide investigative support to the Katsina State Police Command.
A statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, said they are also to work in sync with the military and other law enforcement agents in coordinated efforts aimed at rescuing the students, hunting down the perpetrators, and bringing them to book.
PRESIDENT Buhari, yesterday, condemned the bandits’ attack and charged the Nigerian Army and other security agencies to go after the attackers to ensure that no student gets missing or harmed.
He also urged the school authorities to carry out an audit of the population of the students following shootings in and around the school that sent hundreds of them fleeing
One of the statements by its National Coordinator, Dr. Mohammed Maigoro, and National Secretary, Tunde Funsho, the group said: “We received the news of yesterday’s attack on Government Science Secondary School, Kankara in Katsina State, where at least 600 out of 800 students of the school are reportedly missing with shock.
"This latest action by bandits is a sad reminder of the past similar ones on Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State on the night of April 14, 2014, where 276 girls writing West African Examination Council, WAEC, were abducted and another attack on February 19, 2018, at the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi, in Yobe State that left some students dead and others missing.
"This attack on innocent school children is not only cowardly but also callous and a crime against humanity, prohibited under the international humanitarian law. We urge the security agencies to immediately swing into action in not only rescuing the missing students but also apprehend the perpetrators of this heinous crime," the group said.
