4 More Victims Of Kebbi School Kidnap Rescued

The Nigerian Army says its troops, operating under the auspices of Operation Hadarin Daji, supported by the Nigerian Air Force component, have rescued one more teacher and three students out of the abductees of the Federal Government College, Birnin Yawuri, Kebbi.

Meanwhile, the authorities have ordered the closure of all schools in the frontline of the fight against insurgency in the state.

The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, who disclosed the rescue of the teacher and the three students in a statement on Sunday, in Abuja, said they were rescued on Saturday at Makuku in Kebbi.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that although an unspecified number of teachers and students were abducted from the school on Thursday night, a total of three teachers and eight students have so far been rescued on Friday and Saturday by the army, after a firefight with the kidnappers.

He said the troops also killed one bandit and recovered nine motorcycles and four handsets from the fleeing kidnappers of the Kebbi students.

The army spokesman said additional troops had also been deployed to dominate the forest and deny the bandits freedom of action. (NAN)

Kebbi has indefinitely shut down seven schools in the wake of the armed attack of Federal Government College, Birnin Yauri on Thursday, the Nigerian Union of Teachers has confirmed.

The school are located on the frontlines of the areas prone to bandit attacks.

Chairman of NUT in Kebbi, Isah Arzika told the News Agency of Nigeria that the government had directed all school principals to close any school which they believed were not safe, adding that police and vigilantes had also been deployed to the schools for monitoring and protection.

The NUT chairman assured that they had already closed those frontline schools, describing such a move as a proactive measure to guard against a recurrence of the incident similar to that of FGC Yauri.

“I am not talking about only boarding schools, any school that is on the frontline and it is not safe, we would just ask the students to pack and go home, pending the time the situation normalises.”

“Before now, the state government had recruited large number of vigilante members to look over our schools and we are very much satisfied with what the government has done.

“Some of these schools that I am talking about have policemen attached to them, honestly, we are satisfied with government actions”, he said.

On the FGC Yauri abductions, the NUT chairman appealed to parents to remain calm and continue praying to God Almighty for the restoration of peace in the area and the country at large, while supporting the security agencies with vital information that would enable the rescue of the abducted persons unhurt.

He said: “Since the security agencies have swung into action on the bandits, we have not made fresh contact with the parents and relatives of the students and teachers still in their captivity.

“When we made our first contact two days ago, precisely on Thursday, they did not demand any ransom, instead, they told the parents and relatives that they only wanted to establish contact with them and inform them that their children are with them.

“As I am talking to you, two of our teachers have regained their freedom. Already, seven schools on the frontline in that area have been closed and more will be closed, if we realise the situation is not safe for the teachers and students.

Responding to a question on how the bandits made their contact with the parents, Arzika explained that they collected the contacts of parents and teachers from the abductees and thereafter made calls to tell them that their children and people were with them that was in the face of the fact that the troops were pursuing the victims of the Kebbi school kidnap.

He said: “there was communication from them, but none of them asked for a kobo, they only said they wanted to establish contact that the abductees are in their custody.

“It was yesterday (Friday) that the security agencies swung on them and since then there was no contact again”.

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