While the country is still dealing with the students and teachers kidnapped from the school by armed bandits in Niger State, 317 school girls were abducted this morning from the Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State.
According to a police statement, “The Zamfara State Police Command in collaboration with the military have commenced a joint search and rescue operation with a view to rescuing the 317 students kidnapped by the armed bandits in Government Girls Science Secondary School Jangebe.”
The statement also stated that the girls were kidnapped around 1:00 am. and loaded onto a bus. A source said the armed bandits, some whom appeared like security agents, were in the school for a long time without being challenged by any security outfit.
“The Commissioner of Police, Abutu Yaro; the Force Commander Operations Hadarin Daji, Major General Aminu Bande; Brigade Commander, 1 Brigade, Nigeria Army Gusau and other state government officials led a heavily armed team to Jangebe to complement the ongoing rescue operation in the locations where the students were believed to be taken to."
“The CP, while interfacing with the principal of the school and the parents, appealed to them to be calm as joint efforts of the police and other security agencies will lead to the successful rescue of the students,” the statement read.
According to Reuters, the rise in abductions is fuelled in part by sizeable government payoffs in exchange for the children, officials have said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Even though the government denies such payouts.
Zamfara’s information commissioner, Sulaiman Tanau Anka, told Reuters earlier that gunmen came firing sporadically in the late-night raid on the school. “Information available to me said they came with vehicles and moved the students, they also moved some on foot,” Anka said.
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