•Weeping governor says number abducted can’t be ascertained
•State government shuts all boarding schools
•Buratai briefs Buhari as Army, Police launch rescue operations
•Northern govs, Amnesty condemns abductions; PDP flays president
Dozens of distraught parents and guardians on Saturday besieged Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State in search of their children and wards, following an attack on the school by gunmen on Friday night.
Hundreds of students could not be accounted for on Saturday, although the police said they rescued 200.
Many are feared abducted by the hoodlums.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who arrived in the state on a private visit a few hours before the attack, directed the army and the police to go after the bandits immediately with a view to rescuing the missing children.
In its first reaction to the attack, the state government ordered the closure of all boarding schools to avert a reoccurrence.
Governor Aminu Masari said no one could yet ascertain the number of students who were kidnapped.
Speaking with reporters, the governor said 426 students had been counted as safe.
“This incident has gone beyond imagination,” he said in Hausa.
“For us, it’s highly worrisome and disturbing. I am assuring parents and guardians of these children that – we couldn’t say that we are more disturbed than them – but to rest assured that we share the same worries with them, because we know that we have the responsibility to protect their lives and their health.”
The governor said he had met with the army, who told him they were on top of the situation as efforts intensified to locate the bandits.
“And by God’s grace, we will do all that it takes to rescue the entire abducted students,” Masari said.
“I urge you people in the name of Allah and his prophet to please remain patient and intensify prayers.
“This is because sharing blames and all sorts of abuses are not the solution in this trying time. Honestly speaking, we are not enjoying what is taking place and we are not executing what we are supposed to do when it comes to the issue of protection of the lives of our people.
“We want to assure you that we will do all that is possible on the school children, as we have directed the immediate closure of all schools in the state and that all students should be taken back home.”
The gunmen stormed the school at about 11.30 pm in an attack reminiscent of the April 14, 2014 night invasion of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State by the terror sect, Boko Haram.
Students, teachers, and non-teaching staff fled into surrounding bush for their lives.
A headcount in the boarding school yesterday amid reports that hundreds of them had been abducted indicated that 54 students were missing.
Eight hundred and eighty four students were said to be in the school at the time of the attack.
The state police command said 200 of the students who fled for safety were found by the divisional police officer in the area and returned.
The police said they received report of the attack around 11:30 pm. They were told that bandits armed with AK-47 rifles had attacked the school.
One of the policemen on security duties on the school premises was shot during the attack.
He was rushed to the hospital for treatment.
How it all happened – Police
The Katsina State Police Command, in its account of the incident, said the fully armed bandits announced their arrival with heavy shooting.
Spokesman for the command, Superintendent Gambo Isa, said: “Yesterday (Friday), around 11:30pm, we heard a report that bandits in their numbers armed with their AK-47 rifles attacked Government School, Kankara, and they were shooting sporadically.
“We had our men guarding the school, so there was an exchange of gunfire. That gave the students an opportunity to escape. Many of them scaled through the fence of the school.
“The attackers injured one of our inspectors. Reinforcement was drafted and the DPO led an armoured personnel carrier (APC) team.
“While we were exchanging fire with the bandits, they were retreating into the forest. This morning, the DPO called and said he had found over 200 of the students that escaped.
“Search parties are still rallying into the town and nearby farms in order to get the students that escaped from the school.
“So, we are still counting the numbers in order to know those that are missing. We cannot ascertain at this particular time whether these bandits were able to kidnap any of the students.
“Counting is still ongoing because the students had the opportunity of scaling the fence for safety. Later on, we will be able to confirm if some students were kidnapped because they will call to demand ransom in their usual way.”
He said a combined operation of the police, army, and the Air Force was working closely with the school authorities to ascertain the actual number of the missing or kidnapped students while search parties are assiduously working with a view to rescuing the missing students.
He added that no death was recorded during the attack.
Masari orders closure of all boarding schools
Governor Aminu Masari has ordered immediate closure of all boarding secondary schools in the state.
The governor, who visited the school in company of his deputy, Mannir Yakubu, other government officials, some parents, traditional and religious leaders as well as security officials, pleaded with the people to be patient and show restraints and understanding.
Amid sobs, the governor assured them that government would do every necessary thing to ensure the release of all the abducted students.
He said already, the military, the police and the Department of State Security had swung into action and were on the trail of the bandits.
Masari said the Federal and state governments were doing their best to bring an end to banditry and other debilitating criminal activities in the state.
“The government is very firm in its resolve to be ruthless in any engagement with the bandits,” he said.
Speaking to reporters during the visit, Masari said: “This is a big tragedy, and our concern and commitment towards rescuing the schoolboys is beyond measure.
“We can’t say we are more concerned than the parents, but we deeply share in their pains, knowing full well that we are responsible for the protection of their lives and well-being.
“The soldiers have informed me that they are currently battling with the bandits, and we will do our best to rescue them all. We have ordered the closure of all schools and directed that all the schoolboys be returned to their parents.”
Buhari to military, police: Go after bandits
President Muhammadu Buhari, who arrived in the state a few hours before the attack, directed the army and the police to go after the attackers immediately and ensure the rescue of the missing students.
The President, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, strongly condemned the attack.
He said his thoughts and prayers were with the parents of the students.
The President urged the school authorities to carry out an audit of the students population.
Parents who rushed to the school and removed their children and wards were also required to notify the school and police authorities in order to have a full account of the school population.
“I strongly condemn the cowardly bandits’ attack on innocent children at the Science School, Kankara. Our prayers are with the families of the students, the school authorities and the injured,” said President Buhari while pledging to continue to support the police and military struggle against terrorists and bandits.
The President received briefing from the Army Chief of Staff, General Tukur Buratai, who said the military, supported by air power, had located the bandits’ enclave deep inside the Zango/Paula forest in Kankara and there had been an exchange of gunfire in operation.
The police said so far, there had not been any reported student casualty.
The President directed the reinforcement of security of all schools in line with the safe schools policy of the administration.
IGP deploys additional rescue assets
The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, ordered the deployment of additional operational and investigative assets to support the ongoing search and rescue operations in Kankara and its environs.
“The deployment, which includes personnel from the Police Tactical Squads and crack detectives from the Force Intelligence Bureau, will provide investigative support to the Katsina State Police Command,” Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, said in a statement last night.
He 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.
“Investigations so far reveal that one of the attackers was killed and a policeman injured during the attack. The exact number of students missing cannot be ascertained at the moment as massive operations including investigations, search and rescue exercise are still ongoing.
“Meanwhile, the IGP has ordered the immediate review and strengthening of security arrangements around educational institutions in the country,” Mba said.
Attack is failure of security system, says PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) branded the attack on the school as a failure of the security system in the country.
Spokesman of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, at a press conference in Abuja, asked President Buhari “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.”
He added: “Our party holds as perplexing that at a time the people of Katsina should have heaved a sigh of relief because of his presence, 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 Buhari to manage high level security intelligence that ought to accompany a presidential visit.
“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 widespread calls by patriotic Nigerians that he should resign.
“This insolence of Mr. President towards issues of national security compelled our caucus in the House of Representatives to demand for his impeachment.
“Our party believes that if President Buhari had listened to wise counsel as proffered by the PDP and other patriotic Nigerians including the two chambers of the National Assembly to rejig the nation’s security architecture, our situation would not have deteriorated to this sorry state.
“Moreover, this particular abduction in the 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 had not condemned.”
The main opposition party called on the President Buhari to immediately quit his “needless holidaying” in Daura and go in search of the abducted pupils.
The PDP charged the President to ensure that the abducted pupils were rescued, to match his oft repeated insistence that issues of security remain his exclusive responsibility.
“Our party sympathises with the people of Katsina State, particularly the parents of the kidnapped students, who have been subjected to harrowing experience occasioned by the incompetence of the Buhari administration.
“The PDP, working in concert with other patriotic Nigerians will not rest until President Buhari finds and returns each of these students.”
Amnesty condemns students’ abduction
Amnesty International condemned the attack on the school and the abduction of a yet to be determined number of students.
“Terrifying attacks on rural communities in the north of Nigeria have been going on for years. The ongoing failure of security forces to take sufficient steps to protect villagers from these predictable attacks is utterly shameful,” it said in a tweet by its Director in Nigeria, Osai Ojigho.
It asked government to protect the citizens, especially women and children in rural communities.
Atiku: Time for better strategies to secure Nigeria
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, in his reaction, said the abduction of a large number of students at the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara was a very unwelcome escalation of the spate of insecurity in the nation.
He said: “I sympathise with the parents of the abducted children and the government and people of Katsina, my adopted home state and home of my late benefactor, Tafida Shehu Musa Yar’adua. I pray for their safe return.
“While I urge our nation’s law enforcement agencies to immediately swing to action and rescue the missing students, I am nevertheless conscious of the fact that we cannot continue to be reactionary in our response to the growing insecurity in Nigeria. Something has to give.
“I therefore call on the Federal Government to immediately declare a state of emergency in states bedevilled by banditry and terrorism for an offensive and decisive war on terror and insecurity.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the emergency I call for should follow the steps prescribed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), and case law, by leaving all democratically elected state and local government structures intact.
“The rationale is quite simple: We cannot win the war on terror by continuing with the same strategies we have deployed over the last five years. That they have not worked is very glaring, with the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara incident being the latest in a long line of proofs.
“If we must get better results, we must implement better strategies. Strategies that may have to include the temporary stoppage of the boarding school system in favour of a day students approach, until the situation is brought under control.
“Strategies that must include 24 hours armed military guard for each school in the affected states.
“No sacrifice is too great to make to return law and order to the affected communities, and that must be the singular focus of the Federal Government until this menace is eradicated.”
