Thieves reportedly seize at least 15 Tsangaya students at Gidan Bakuso area of Gada Local Government Area in Sokoto State.
Our reporter discovered that it happened at the school grounds around 1am on Saturday.
Affirming the incident, the school owner, Liman Abubakar, stated, “Currently, 15 students are missing, but we're still counting”
“They attacked the town around 1am, shot one person, and took a woman during the process.
“As they were leaving the town, they saw our students running into their rooms and they captured many of them.
“We have identified 15 who are missing and we are still searching for more.”
Abubakar also mentioned that while the village had been previously attacked by bandits, this was the first time they had kidnapped any students.
Also commenting, Mansur Ahmadu, a resident of the affected community, revealed that the bandits invaded the community in the middle of the night.
“It was a serious situation when the incident happened, they killed a woman in the process before they abducted those students,” he said.
Also confirming the incident, a member representing Gada-East constituency at the state House of Assembly, Kabiru Dauda, stated that he got a call from the village around 2am about the bandit invasion.
“I contacted the local government authorities and security agencies and I am confident they are taking action,” he said.
When reached for comment, the spokesperson for the Sokoto State Police Command, ASP Ahmad Rufa’i, stated that the command has sent a team to verify the real situation.
He stated, “Many of your colleagues have been calling me about this but honestly I just spoke with the Divisional Police Officer of the affected community.
“We have sent our men to confirm what actually happened, I can assure you that we are on top of the situation. I will update you on it,” he added.
Attempts to speak with the state governor’s Special Adviser on Security Matters, Col Ahmed Usman (retd.), were unsuccessful as his line was not reachable at the time of writing this report.
However, a senior government official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed the attack and assured everyone that the government will do everything possible to ensure the safe return of the abducted students.
Last Thursday, bandits abducted over 280 pupils and teachers of Government Secondary School and LEA primary school at Kuriga, Kaduna State, sparking national outrage. (https://punchng.com/outrage-as-bandits-kidnap-280-pupils-from-kaduna-schools/)
