From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
One of the teachers of Government Secondary School Kuriga, Sani Abdullahi has narrated how bandits invaded the joint secondary and primary and allegedly whisked away about 280 pupils and teachers.
Abdullahi said the incident occured just minutes after he resumed school on Thursday, at exactly 7:47 am while inside the Acting Principal’s office, where he signed in, and suddenly the bandits stormed and surrounded the school premises.
“All of a sudden, the Acting Principal asked me to look at my back and when I turned, we discovered that bandits had surrounded the school premises.
“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 were around 700 following us. So, when we entered the bush, I was lucky to escape alongside many other people.
“So, I returned to the village and reported what happened to the community.
“ Immediately our vigilante and personnel of KADVS followed the bandits, but the vigilante did not succeed the bandits killed one of the vigilantes, we just buried him a while ago”, he stated.
The teacher spoke when the State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, led senior government officials and security top brass to the scene of the kidnapping attack on Thursday evening.
He continues: “It was when we came back from that pursuit that we briefed the Village Head and we started making efforts to know 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 retired home,” he narrated.
However, Gov Uba Sani, who was visibly saddened by the incident, said in his capacity as elected Governor “, I am assuring you that, by the grace of God, all the children will return unhurt.
“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. The essence of government is the protection of citizens’ lives and property. We recognize the fact that we are holding this position in truant for the people and by God’s grace, we will protect the citizens’ rights.
“I am one of the prominent voices on the issue of security. When I was in the Senate, I moved the motion for the creation of State Police.
“We have realized that there are not enough boots on the ground, which is why we feel that if State Police, every community like Kuriga had people in the Police they would be armed with AK47 rifles. That is the only way we would be able to protect the lives and property of the citizens.
“The vigilantes are not as armed as the bandits, because they do have AK47s, that is why the bandits are constantly causing us destruction. They come in to humiliate, kill and abduct our citizens.
“Since I received the sad news of this incident, I have not had rest of mind because every child in Kaduna State is my child. So, I don’t want you people to be disturbed. Let’s pray to God to help and on our part as a government, we will not rest until these children return home.
“We are going to select seven people from this community, who will be part of a committee, where we would be having discussions,” he said.
While addressing the community members, Sani also promised to establish a Police Station and build a permanent camp for the military in the community.
The community members who trooped out to receive the Governor at the Village Head’s palace applauded the governor for personally coming down to Kuriga to identify with them during the trying moment.
