More than 280 students were kidnapped in Nigeria

More than 280 students were kidnapped this Thursday after an attack by armed persons on a school in north-central Nigeria, in a city in Kaduna Statea civil society leader and a police source confirmed this Friday.

Deputy Secretary of the Kaduna Regional Office of the Civil Society Action Coalition Education for All, Farouk Alhassan, updated the figure this Friday after a police source initially reported it. on condition of anonymity that 150 students were kidnapped.

“According to what we managed to find out from the school, more than 280 students were kidnapped by bandits who traveled on motorcycles and they shot during the attack,” Alhassan explained.

The attack happened early Thursday morning at Elementary school of the Local Administration for Education in Kurigawhen the attackers – about 100 of them, according to one local resident – surrounded a group of students and professors and pushed them into the forest, from where some managed to escape.

“This incident is bad for education, it’s bad for the future. Yesterday was a very sad day for all actors in the education sector”, complained the activist.

The aforementioned police source also confirmed the new figure, although he was slightly above, at 285the number of abducted students confirmed by the school authorities.

“Our people are combing the forest in order to Catch the criminals and save the innocent students” said the agent.

In the meantime, a a teacher named Sani Abdullahi who claimed to be among the victims surrounded by the attackers, states that the initial group taken to the forest consisted of 700, and the missing students 287, according to local media.

The kidnapping caused a wave of reactions, like that of the organization Amnesty International (AI)who on Thursday called on the Nigerian authorities to “safely rescue the students and bring the alleged perpetrators to justice” through her X social media account.

“The schools should be safe places and no child should have to choose between their education and their life. “Nigerian authorities must take urgent measures to prevent attacks on schools and protect children’s lives and their right to education,” the NGO added.

On its part, Human rights activist and former MP Shehu Saniwho previously represented Kaduna State in Nigeria’s Senate (Upper House), said it was “tragic to hear that 232 students have just been abducted in Kuriga village.”

Some states in Nigeria – especially in the center and north-west of the country – suffer from constant attacks by “bandits”, a term used in the country to refer to criminal groups that carry out attacks and kidnappings massive demands to demand large ransoms.

Added to this insecurity is the one it has been causing since 2009 activities of the jihadist group Boko Haram in the northeast of the country, and since 2016 and since its assessment, the Islamic State in the West African Province (ISWAP).