Despite threats of crackdowns on bandits and terrorists targeting schoolchildren, the perpetrators seem undeterred, as evidenced by the recent abduction of 15 pupils from an Islamiya school in Sokoto State in the early hours of Saturday.
This incident follows closely on the heels of Thursday’s abduction of 287 schoolchildren in Kaduna State, as well as the kidnapping of over 200 Internally Displaced Persons from their camp in Borno State on Wednesday.
In response to these distressing events, President Bola Tinubu has directed security agents to prioritize the swift and safe rescue of all those abducted.
The Sokoto State Police Command has confirmed the abduction of 15 Almajiri students in the Gada Local Government Area of the state.
The spokesman for the command, ASP Ahmed Rufai, while confirming the incident in a telephone conversation with one of our correspondents, said suspected bandits invaded the community around midnight.
Rufai said, “They reportedly invaded the community in the middle of the night and abducted 15 students of the Islamiya School.
“They also abducted one woman, who is a resident of the community.”
He, however, disclosed that the State Commissioner of Police, Ali Kaigama, mandated the Divisional Police Officer in the community to work with the special team from the state capital to ensure that the abducted students were rescued unhurt.
The proprietor of the school, Mallam Liman Abubakar, said, “so far, 15 students are unaccounted for, but we are still counting.
“They (bandits) invaded the town around 1 am, shot one person, and abducted a woman in the process.
“As they were leaving the town, they sighted our students rushing into their rooms, and they kidnapped many of them.
“We have so far counted 15 who are missing, and we are still searching for more.
“This is not the first time the village has been attacked by bandits but they never kidnapped any of the students until now.”
A resident of the affected community, Mansur Ahmadu, told Sunday Punch and other people around him that the bandits invaded the community in the middle of the night.
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He narrated, “it was a serious situation, as they killed a woman in the process before they abducted those students.”
A member representing the Gada-East Constituency at the state House of Assembly, Kabiru Dauda, also confirmed the incident and said he received a call from the village around 2 am that the community was under attack by bandits.
“I reached out to the local government authorities and security agencies, and I am sure that they are doing something about it,” he said.
However, a top government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also confirmed the attack and gave an assurance that the government would do everything possible to ensure the safe return of the abducted students.
