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Hundreds of girls unaccounted for after new abductions in Nigeria
KANO, Nigeria, Feb 26, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Gunmen raided a school in
northwestern Nigeria overnight, abducting students, local authorities said
Friday, raising fears that the country had been hit by another mass
kidnapping.
The suspected armed bandits attacked the Government Girls Secondary School
in Jangebe in Zamfara state, kidnapping an unknown number of students from
dormitories.
In the initial aftermath, teachers said several hundred girls were
unaccounted for.
“It is true, gunmen… kidnapped students,” Sulaiman Tunau Anka, the state
information commissioner, confirmed.
“They went to the school with vehicles. They forced some of the girls to
trek.”
The security forces are tracking the criminals, he added.
Heavily-armed criminal gangs known locally as “bandits” in northwest and
central Nigeria have stepped up attacks in recent years, kidnapping for
ransom, raping and pillaging.
Just last week, 42 people were taken by a gang from a boys school in nearby
Niger state.
In December, more than 300 boys were kidnapped from a school in Kankara, in
President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state of Katsina, while he was visiting the
region.
The boys were later released but the incident triggered outrage and
memories of the kidnappings of schoolgirls by jihadists in Dapchi and Chibok
that shocked the world.
One teacher told AFP “more than 300 are unaccounted for” after Friday’s
attack, while another teacher had a higher estimate.
“Out of the 600 students in the school only around 50 have been accounted
for. The rest have been abducted. It is possible some of them managed to
escape, but we are not sure,” the second teacher said.
A parent told AFP he had received a phone call about the incident.
“I’m on my way to Jangebe. I received a call that the school was invaded by
bandits who took away schoolgirls. I have two daughters in the school,” said
Sadi Kawaye.
– Angered, horrified –
“We are angered and saddened by yet another brutal attack on
schoolchildren in Nigeria,” UNICEF representative in Nigeria Peter Hawkins
said in a statement.
“This is a gross violation of children’s rights and a horrific experience
for children to go through — one which could have long-lasting effects on
their mental health and well-being.”
The UN agency called on those responsible to “release the girls
immediately” and on the government “to ensure their safe release and the
safety of all other schoolchildren in Nigeria.”
The charity Save the Children said it was “horrified” about the news of the
abductions.
“It is unacceptable that attacks on schools and students has become a
recurring scenario in Northern Nigeria,” said Mercy Gichuhi, Save the
Children’s Nigeria director.
“These attack… puts (the children) at risk of never returning to school,
as they or their parents think it’s too dangerous.”
Amnesty International Nigeria said the abductions was “a serious violation
of international humanitarian law.”
“Nigerian authorities must take all measures to return them to safety,
along with all children currently under the custody of armed groups,” the
rights group said on Twitter.
The federal government has not yet commented on the latest kidnappings.
Unrest in northwest Nigeria is just one security challenge facing Africa’s
most populous country, where militants are waging a jihadist insurgency in
the northeast and ethnic tensions are simmering in some southern regions.
Along with central Nigeria, the region has increasingly become a hub for
large criminal gangs who raid villages, killing and abducting residents after
looting and torching homes.
Bandits operate out of camps in Rugu forest, which straddles Zamfara,
Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states.
Nigerian armed forces have deployed there but attacks and mass kidnappings
persist.
The gangs are largely driven by financial motives and have no known
ideological leanings.
But there are concerns they are being infiltrated by jihadists who are
fighting out a decade-old conflict that has killed more than 30,000 people
and spread into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
BSS/AFP/RY/1932hrs