Nigeria Police, Kebbi govt confirm abduction of 25 schoolgirls

The command's spokesperson, Nafiu Kotarkoshi, confirmed the attack in a statement on Monday, saying the terrorists wielded sophisticated weapons.

The police and the Kebbi State Government have confirmed the abduction of schoolgirls from Maga Comprehensive Girls’ Secondary School in Danko Wasagu LGA.

The spokesperson of the Kebbi State Police Command, Nafiu Kotarkoshi, confirmed the attack in a statement on Monday, saying the terrorists wielded sophisticated weapons.

Explaining that the terrorists invaded the school around 4 a.m., Mr Kotarkoshi, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), said the police tactical team was“deployed” to the school and “engaged them (the armed persons) in a gun duel.”

“Unfortunately, the suspected bandits had already scaled through the fence of the school and abducted twenty-five students from their hostel to an unknown destination,” he added, confirming the death of one staff member of the school.

Arise TV also reported that the Kebbi State Government has confirmed the abduction. Ahmed Idris, the Chief Press Secretary to Kebbi State Governor Nasir Idris, in a statement, said Deputy Governor Umar Tafida has led a team of government officials and security personnel to the scene to assess the situation.

The incident

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the terrorists kidnapped 25 schoolgirls from their dormitory. They also reportedly killed two staff members—Hassan Makuku, a teacher, and a local guard, simply identified as Ali, during the invasion.

The police, however, said Mr Ali was only injured.

Despite military checkpoints in the school area, residents remain puzzled about the successful abduction.

“One of the checkpoints is in Damarke,” a source, who lives near Maga town, told PREMIUM TIMES. “It is under Bukkuyum Local Government Area of Zamfara State, and it is about seven kilometers from the school.”

The other checkpoint, according to locals and traditional leaders who spoke with our reporter, is less than a kilometre from the school.

Sources told this paper that the attack could have been prevented had the soldiers heeded the instruction of the state governor, Nasir Idris.

After an earlier warning about the attack, Mr Idris, according to a community leader, had ordered that soldiers stationed at the checkpoint less than a kilometre from the school be mobilised there.

The community leader lamented that the soldiers later withdrew, leaving police officers to handle the matter. An enquiry sent to the Nigerian Army spokesperson, Appolonia Anele, has not been responded to.

Sources told PREMIUM TIMES that the terrorists overpowered the police officers who confronted them.

But the police spokesperson said additional police squads and military personnel, including local vigilantes, were tracking the terrorists to rescue the girls.

“They are currently combing the bandits’ routes and nearby forests with a view to rescuing the abducted students and possibly arresting the perpetrators of the dastardly act,” he said.

Who is responsible for the attack?

Details of the group responsible for the abduction remain unclear. But sources familiar with the activities of various armed groups around the area said the group of notorious Dogo Gide or that of Falando may be responsible.

“Dogo could easily access the place,” a local intelligence source working with the State Security Services (SSS), said.

“It may be the group of Falando operating from Gando forest,” another source around Maga said.

Previous school abduction in Kebbi and beyond

Since Boko Haram succeeded in abducting the Chibok girls from their dormitories in 2014, several armed groups in the North-west and the North-central continue to follow in the footsteps of the insurgents, kidnapping students for ransom, and, sometimes, forcefully marrying them and turning them into sex slaves.

In June 2021, Dogo Gide’s group abducted about 80 students and five teachers from the Federal Government College, Birnin Yauri, Kebbi State.

The students were freed in batches, with the last set released in 2023. Unfortunately, some of them returned home with babies. Some of the students are now back to school under a scholarship scheme by the Kebbi State Government.

In May 2021, terrorists stormed an Islamic school in Tegina, Niger State, kidnapping nearly 200 students. The attack came a few days after 14 students kidnapped from Greenfield University in Kaduna State were freed.

In February that same year, terrorists kidnapped nearly 300 girls from a boarding school in Jangebe, Zamfara State. Most of them were later freed.

In 2024, terrorists kidnapped more than 100 students from a joint elementary school in Kuriga, Kaduna State. The students were subsequently freed a few months later, with the government claiming that no ransom was paid.