Gunmen have attacked a school in Nigeria’s north-west region seizing at least 287 pupils, in the second mass abduction in the West African nation in less than a week.
Officials previously reported that 100 students had been held captive in the incident. However, during a visit to the town on Thursday, headteacher Sani Abdullahi informed governor Uba Sani that the actual number of missing individuals, after a thorough count, was 287. Governor Sani assured the villagers that every child would be safely returned and that they were collaborating with security forces.
The act of abducting students from schools in northern Nigeria is a frequent occurrence and has caused worry since 2014, when a large group of schoolgirls were taken by Islamic extremists in the Chibok village of Borno state. More recently, these abductions have been happening mainly in the north-western and central areas, where many armed groups often seize villagers and travelers and demand large sums of money for their release.
According to Joshua Madami, a community leader, a group of attackers entered a primary school in Kuriga, located in Chikun, at 8am after the morning assembly. They took approximately 200 students hostage and there was no immediate aid available.
A few hours after the town, security forces and a government delegation arrived in order to expand the search effort. Meanwhile, community members and parents assembled to await updates.
Musa, the chairman of the council, stated that the government is collaborating with security agencies in order to explore all possible options for rescuing them.
The assault took place several days following the abduction of over 200 individuals, primarily females and minors, by extremists in the northeastern region of Nigeria.
Females, minors, and pupils are frequently chosen as targets in large-scale kidnappings in the war-torn northern area, and a vast majority of those kidnapped are set free only after paying exorbitant sums of money.
According to an analysis by the Associated Press, both attacks serve as a reminder of the deteriorating security situation in Nigeria. In 2023, the violence led to the deaths of hundreds of individuals.
Last year, Bola Tinubu was elected as Nigeria’s president with a pledge to resolve the ongoing violence. However, Oluwole Ojewale, a researcher for the Africa-focused Institute for Security Studies, states that there has been no noticeable progress in the country’s security situation yet.
Source: theguardian.com
