What Happened?
At about 11:00 p.m. Friday, gunmen made their way into the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State shooting AK-47 rifles into the air. Of the 800 – 1200 students of the school, over 300 schoolboys were abducted. The governor, Aminu Masari, said they were yet to account for 333 schoolboys.
Efforts are being made to ascertain the actual number of children that have been kidnapped.
Government Reactions
On Sunday, Governor Aminu Masari ordered the closure of schools in the state until further notice. A statement by the Public Relations Officer, Ministry of education, Sani Suleiman, read,
This is to inform the general public especially principals, parents/guardians, proprietors of community and private schools that the third term for 2019/2020 academic session has come to an end today, Saturday 12th December, 2020. Therefore, all public, community, and private schools are to remain closed till further notice.
President Muhammadu Buhari who is on a presidential visit to the state would go on to condemn the attack and urge the school authority to ascertain the number of students abducted whilst pledging his support to get them back.
I strongly condemn the cowardly bandits’ attack on innocent children at the Science School, Kankara. Our prayers are with the families of the students, the school authorities and the injured.
Why this matters
Though the commitment to ensuring the return of 276 kidnapped schoolgirls of Chibok Secondary School, Borno State ushered in President Buhari’s led administration in 2014, 112 schoolgirls are still missing. 4 years later, 110 schoolgirls of Government Girls’ Science and Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi, an area in Yunusari local government, Yobe State were also kidnapped by the same terrorist group claimed to have been defeated by the federal government and its security agents. Two weeks ago, 44 farmers on a Rice field at Garin Kwashebe, Borno State were killed by Boko Haram for attacking one of their members. These events are just a part of the reoccurring activities of this terrorist group and reinforce Nigeria’s unrelenting insecurity and the government’s failure in tackling it.