Sani Abdullahi, one of the teachers of Government Secondary School (GSS), Kuriga, in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, says the armed bandits that attacked the school took away a total of 287 students.
The bandits had invaded the school on Thursday morning, abducting pupils and teachers.
When Governor Uba Sani led government officials to the scene of the incident on Thursday evening, Abdullahi said the bandits took them by surprise.
His words: “I resumed to the school today at exactly 7:47 am. I entered the Acting Principal’s office and signed. All of a sudden, the acting principal asked me to look at my back, and when I turned, we discovered that the school premises surrounded bandits.
“We became confused; we didn’t know where to go. Then, the bandits asked us to enter the bush, so we obeyed them because there were many and the pupils, about 700, were following us.
“So, when we entered the bush, I was lucky to escape alongside many others. I returned to the village and reported what happened to the community.
“So, immediately, our vigilante and personnel of KADVIS followed the bandits, but the vigilante did not succeed; in fact, the bandits killed one of the vigilantes; we just buried him a short while ago.
“It was when we came back from that pursuit that we briefed the village head, and we started making efforts to find out the actual number of pupils and teachers taken away by the bandits.
“At GSS Kuriga, 187 students are presently missing. In the primary school, 125 pupils were initially missing, but 25 of them escaped and returned home.”
Addressing the community, the governor said, “In my capacity as your elected governor, I am assuring you that by the grace of God, all the children will return unhurt.
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“Before coming here, I spoke with the National Security Adviser (NSA), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, and we are making efforts; the security forces have swung into action and by God’s grace, we will rescue the children.
“We will do whatever we need to do to ensure the safe return of these children, even if it means coming to Kuriga to stay with you.”
