Barely 48 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari relocated to Daura to spend a week at his country home there, hundreds of students of the Government Science Secondary School Kankara in Katsina State, North-West Nigeria have been reportedly abducted by bandits during an attack on the school Friday night.
The principal of the school, Usman Abubakar who confirmed the development said the bandits arrived at the school at around 10.15 pm Friday night and operated for about 1 hour.
According to Abubakar, the bandits in their numbers attacked the school gate and shot one of the policemen on duty on his leg, with the policeman presently receiving treatment in one of the hospitals.
The other policeman who was also on duty escaped before the bandits gained complete access to the school.
He further added that the bandits later proceeded to the staff quarters where they abducted the wife of one of the workers but later released her while they went away with their child.
According to him, the situation was brought under control when soldiers of the Nigerian Army stationed in Kankara came and engaged the bandits in a gun duel, forcing them to abort their operations and flee to the nearby bush with the abducted victims due to the superior firepower of the military.
According to Abubakar, the school management is presently conducting a headcount among the students to ascertain the exact number that was abducted during the attack.
He also said the invasion made the students who survived the invasion, to vacate the school in the night as parents were said to be busy searching for their children up till Saturday morning.
The bandits, riding on motorcycles, according to a source in the school, came in large numbers and started shooting sporadically.
The principal said: “They abducted many of our students who were inside their hotels. I cannot say how many people were kidnapped, but they went away with many students.
“As we speak this morning (Saturday), our remaining students had left the school and their parents are here with us trying to know their whereabouts,” he said.
The state police spokesperson, Gambo Isah, in a statement released on Saturday, said security forces are on the trail of the bandits.
His statement reads:
“Good morning, Gentlemen of the Press, yesterday, 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 opportunity to scaled the fence of the school and ran for safety. The Dpo reinforced the policemen on duty with Armoured Personnel Carrier, (APC) which forced the hoodlums to retreat back into the forest. One Inspector sustained a gunshot wound and was taken to the hospital and is responding to treatment. In the course of investigation, the DPO rescued over two hundred students back into the school compound.
“The police, Nigerian Army, and Nigerian Air Force are working closely with the school authorities to ascertain the actual number of the missing and/or kidnapped students while search parties are assidiously working with a view to find and/or rescue the missing students. It will be too early to say at this particular moment the actual number of students that have been kidnapped or missing.”
Kankara is one of the eight frontline local government areas affected by the activities of bandits. This is, however, the first time bandits are abducting students from a school in Katsina State since banditry started sometime last year.