Following the brazing kidnap of about 200 children from an Islamic school in Niger State, President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the nation’s security and intelligence agencies to move fast and ensure that the children are rescued.
A statement by the president’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu, said President Buhari, condemned as unfortunate, the kidnapping of children from schools, and urged all the agencies involved in the rescue operation to do their utmost in securing their immediate release.
He also directed the concerned government agencies to extend possible support to the families of the kidnapped children.
The children, pupils of the Islamic school in Tegina, Niger State, were abducted on Sunday.
According to reports of the abduction, the bandits seized the police station in the town and went round the town shooting sporadically into the air to scare residents before breaking into a private school where they abducted children attending Islamic lectures.
The school, which consists of nursery and primary schools, also hosts Islamiyya students in the evening and at weekends.
Eleven of the kidnapped students were later released by their abductors because they were too young and could not work, according to the Niger State government.
Mass abduction of students from schools have become common, particularly in the northern part of the country.
