NIGERIA: More schoolgirls seized

A College’s vice principal was killed as extremists abducted 25 schoolgirls from their dormitories.

The students – most of whom were Christian – were taken from the Government Girls’ Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, in Nigeria’s north-western Kebbi State in the early hours of Tuesday morning (18th November).

 A local source told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that the attack caught residents off guard.

They said: “Just when we thought there was a bit of a lull in the killings and abductions, the news of the abduction of around twenty-five girls – we’re not sure of the exact numbers yet – has come as a rude shock, throwing the community into grief.”

School principal Musa Rabi Magaji has subsequently confirmed that 25 schoolgirls were kidnapped, and one student managed to escape her kidnapers.

The source added: “The bandits stormed the school at about 3am and operated for many hours without any resistance.

“The vice principal of the school, Mallam Hassan Yakubu Makuku, was killed as he tried helplessly to protect his students.”

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the source stressed that bandit gangs are becoming increasingly professional in the north-west. Early testimonies suggest attackers carried sophisticated weapons.

Authorities suggest the gangs are criminalised members of the Fulani herder community.

 The vice principal may have been targeted for murder. His wife Amina Hassan told news agency AP that members of the kidnap gang broke into their house on the school premises and asked for her husband by name before shooting him.

 She said: “Three of them entered and asked my husband, ‘Are you Malam Hassan?’ and he responded, ‘Yes, I am.’ They told him that we are here to kill you.”

The vice principal was also the school’s senior security officer.

ACN’s source also said the Wasagu/Dankomaga Local Government Area, where the school is located, is one of the most religiously diverse in the state.

 Several communities in the area are predominantly Christian, which is rare in the Muslim-majority north-west – adding this is why many of the abducted pupils are Christians, as was the murdered vice principal.

The source added: “All families in the area are united in prayers and appealing to the government to do everything possible to rescue the children.”

ACN was told that as Maga is hard to reach, it complicated the response of security forces: “The community is in a remote area between Sokoto and Kontagora Diocese”.

 Kebbi State has previously seen raids on educational institutions.

 The source told ACN the latest attack represents “a major blow to the education of young girls, which is already quite rare in these parts of the country.”

According to AP at least 1,500 students have been kidnapped since Boko Haram jihadists kidnapped the 276 Chibok schoolgirls in 2014.