Breaking: Bandits strike again in Kaduna, abduct teachers, primary school pupils

Few days after gunmen abducted 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Mando, Kaduna state, bandits on Monday again stormed a Primary School in Rama village of Birnin-Gwari local government area of Kaduna State, whisking away yet to be ascertained number of teachers and pupils.

The incident, it was gathered occurred around 8:45am when the pupils were just leaving the assembly ground for their classes.

The Kaduna State government confirmed the incident, saying that it was still putting together the actual number of pupils and teachers reported to have been kidnapped.

The state’s Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, said, “The Kaduna State Government is receiving security reports of kidnapping of some pupils and teachers in a primary school located in Rema, Birnin Gwari local government area.

“According to preliminary reports, the incident occurred at an LEA Primary School in the LGA.

“The Kaduna State Government is currently obtaining details on the actual number of pupils and teachers reported to have been kidnapped and will issue a comprehensive statement as soon as possible,” Aruwan said.

A resident of Birnin-Gwari, Malam Usman Abdullahi said the bandits stormed the school on about 20 motorcycles and carried the victims away immediately.

According to him, “for now, we don’t know the number of people taken by the kidnappers. They came on motorcycles, about 20 motorcycles, which they used to carry the pupils and their teachers. As we speak, only two teachers have been confirmed to be among the victims, but for the pupils, we can’t say for now.

On 27 February, gunmen abducted 279 schoolgirls in nearby Zamfara state. And a week earlier, gunmen seized 42 people, including 27 students from an all-boys boarding school in central Niger state. In December, hundreds of schoolboys were seized in Katsina, Buhari’s home state, while he was on a visit.