On Thursday, March 7, at least 312 students and a principal, Abubakar Isah, were abducted when bandits invaded the LEA Primary and Junior Secondary School, Kuriga, in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
According to the reports, officials of the school and community leaders told Governor Uba Sani, who visited the school on Thursday, that 187 students were abducted from the secondary school section and 125 from the primary school section.
One of the teachers, Sani Abdullahi, who escaped the abduction, said 25 of the pupils from the primary section had returned, leaving 287 students and the principal in the custody of the bandits.
Abdullahi told the governor that at exactly 7:47am, he entered the acting principal’s office to sign his attendance when, suddenly, the bandits 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 of them, and the pupils, who were about 700 were 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. So, immediately, our vigilantes and personnel of the Kaduna State Vigilance Service (KADVS) followed the bandits, but the vigilantes did not succeed. In fact, the bandits killed one of the vigilantes; we just buried him a short while ago,” he said.
Governor Sani assured the government that it would do all it could to ensure all the children would return soon.
