Global Courant
The incident is the first mass school kidnapping in Nigeria since President Bola Tinubu took office in May.
Security forces have rescued 14 of 20 students abducted from a university in northwestern Nigeria and are searching for the remaining captives, school authorities say.
Gunmen attacked the school in Bungudu district of Zamfara state last week and fled with the students and some workers in Nigeria’s first mass school kidnapping since President Bola Tinubu took office in May.
The 14 students from Federal University Gusau were rescued along with two other people, a university statement said on Monday, without giving details of when they were released or the nature of the rescue operation.
“The sad and unfortunate incident has indeed put the university community in serious tension and anxiety,” the statement said, adding that security forces were “doing their best” to rescue the remaining students. It also says steps are being taken to increase security around the university.
Such kidnappings from schools are common in northwestern and central Nigeria, where armed groups often take people hostage in exchange for huge ransoms that analysts say help them buy weapons and continue their operations.
The Nigerian military has been battling armed groups such as Boko Haram in the northeast, leaving it with few resources to tackle the kidnapping gangs, known locally as bandits.
The bandits are believed to be mainly ethnic Fulanis, but herders and mercenaries from the region and neighboring Chad and Niger are also involved.
According to the Center for Democracy and Development, an Abuja-based policy and advocacy group, an estimated 12,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands of others displaced in the northwestern states of Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina and Kaduna between 2011 and 2022 as a result of the crisis. thinktank.
In Zamfara, one of the hotspots for kidnappings for ransom, many vigilante groups have sprung up, with teenagers joining their ranks brandishing knives and clubs.
The latest attack poses a new challenge for Tinubu, who extended the ruling party’s rule with his election victory after promising to resolve Nigeria’s security crisis. It adds to growing pressure from the opposition and activists who accuse Tinubu of not doing enough to ensure security.
Armed groups have carried out attacks in many remote communities, often taking advantage of the inadequate security presence in those areas.
While condemning the university kidnappings in a statement from his office on Sunday, Tinubu said his government is “determined to ensure that educational institutions remain sanctuaries of knowledge, growth and opportunity, and completely free from the menacing acts of terrorists”.
