Women protest over abduction
IGP deploys additional forces
‘Deploy 24-hr military protection in schools’, Atiku tells FG
Governor of Katsina state, Aminu Bello Masari, has confirmed that 333 students are missing following an attack on Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State.
The governor stated this when he received a federal government delegation led by Babagana Monguno, national security adviser, on Sunday, the governor said 333 students are still missing.
Recall that unknown gunmen attacked the school on Friday night and reportedly shot a security officer on the premises while some students were said to have been abducted.
The school is said to have a population of around 800 students, and according to the police, when the gunmen attacked, some of the students scaled the fence to escape. According to reports, security sources had confirmed that over 300 students were unaccounted for after the attack.
Spokesman of the Katsina Police Command, Isah Gambo, had earlier said 200 students were rescued as of Saturday morning. On Saturday evening, Presidency spokesman, Garba Shehu, said the Armed Forces had located the hideout of the bandits in a forest.
President Buhari, who directed security agencies to ensure the rescue of the abducted students, urged parents whose children fled home during the attack to notify the school.
Yesterday, some women and children took to the streets of Kankara to protest the abduction of the school children in their community by the bandits on Friday.
The protest happened yesterday morning, two days after the marauders struck the local government area and reportedly took away hundreds of children from the school. The Sunday protest is one of those that have taken place in the community in reaction to the attack by the bandits.
Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, has ordered the deployment of additional forces to Katsina to assist in rescue operations.
In a related development, former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar has admonished the federal government to deploy 24-hour military protection in schools around states battling with insecurity. Atiku, in a statement issued at the weekend, asked the federal government to discontinue the boarding school system until the security situation is brought under control.
The former V-P asked the government to change strategies in tackling banditry, and also declare a state of emergency in states affected by insecurity.
