Suspected bandits have attacked a school in Zamfara state and kidnapped four cooks in the female secondary school.
First aired on BBC Hausa Service, the story said bandits struck at the Government Girls Secondary School, Moriki, in Zurmi local government area, on Wednesday night, same day a group struck in Daura, President Muhammadu Buhari’s hometown and abducted a traditional ruler, the Magajin Garin Daura, Alhaji Musa. He is an in-law to President Muhammadu Buhari And his aide de camp (ADC).
Reports said the Zamfara attackers could not reach the students, even as media reports quoted state police commissioner, Celestine Okoye, as confirming no student was kidnapped.
PREMIUM TIMES quoted the commissioner as saying, “We have confirmed reports of an attack on the school in Moriki, but no students were abducted.
“Unfortunately, four cooks were abducted from the school.”
In Port Harcourt, Rivers State, kidnappers were said to have told victims that they resorted to the unwholesome trade because the federal and state governments had stopped paying allowances approved for them as ex-Niger Delta militants by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
Also, the Abuja – Kaduna Highway which the federal government gave to Julius Berger Construction Company to work on up to the far north is almost abandoned by road users for fear of bandits and kidnappers as many now prefer the two hours train ride between the two cities.
On Monday, the Chairman of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Abubakar Mohammed, and his daughter, Yasmin, were abducted, but released the next day after allegedly paying a huge ransom.
His aide denied he paid a ransom, but the recording of a phone discussion in Hausa language which went viral put a lie to the aide’s position. The UBEC boss was heard in the recording arranging for the ransom to be paid.
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In Katsina, bandits were said to have killed 15 persons and burnt many houses at Gobirawa and Sha Ka Wuce villages in Safana Local Government Area on Tuesday night.
Chairman of the local government, Abba Safana, said 14 people were killed at Gobirawa and one at Shaka Wuce, according to the Daily Trust newspaper.
The spokesman of the state police command, SP Gambo Isah, said at about 18:10hours, a group of bandits operating on over 150 motorcycles, attacked the villages, killing 13 persons as at the early morning of Wednesday.
“Police patrol teams were dispatched to the scene and engaged the hoodlums in gun duel and chased them out of the villages. One motorcycle was recovered from the bandits,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to end his “private visit” abroad and immediately return home to face the deteriorated security situation in the country.
The Party described as “completely unacceptable for President Buhari to practically abandon his responsibilities, as the Commander-In-Chief, at least for now, to pursue unexplained private matters in foreign lands, while bandits, marauders and insurgents seize our nation; maim, kidnap and kill our citizens with reckless abandon.
“President Buhari’s inattention has emboldened insurgents and bandits to continue to over-run communities, unleash mayhem and bloodletting on citizens in Borno, Zamfara, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe Taraba, Kaduna, Benue, Kogi and other states of the federation, including Mr. President’s home state, Katsina.
“While President Buhari wanders abroad, bandits are having a field day, pillaging communities in Katsina state; killing several persons and abducting the District Head of his hometown, Daura, Musa Umar; the father in-law of Mr. President’s security aide”.