Just as the release of abducted students of Greenfield University in Kaduna State was being celebrated, gunmen raided one Salihu Tanko Islamiyya school in Niger State, reportedly abducting about 200 students on Sunday evening. The school is located at Tegina in Rafi local government area of the state.
The gunmen who attacked the school around 4:30 pm, allegedly killed one person and fatally wounded another. It is not immediately clear why the students were in the school premises on a Sunday afternoon since it is not residential. Noel-Berje, spokesperson to Governor Sani Bello, Niger State governor, said the governor is outraged at the “escalating level of banditry” in the state and has reiterated his call on the federal government to promptly intervene.
The governor, who had once expressed frustration about the incessant kidnapping and killing in his state, warning then about the dangers to Abuja, the seat of federal government, added that “The situation has reached crisis level; in fact, it’s a war situation that we have to confront without further delay”.
The state government also revealed that 11 people have been released by the bandits, apparently because they were too young and unable to walk with them into the jungle.
Some of the victims were said to have been passengers of vehicles ambushed by the bandits. The invaders were said to have carried out the abduction using motorcycles.