73 Zamfara Students’ Abduction: ACF Fumes As Gov Tells Residents To Fight Back

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It will be recalled that some gunmen, on Wednesday, invaded the Government Day Secondary School, Kaya, in the Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State and abducted no fewer than 73 students.

The PUNCH reports that the attack, which came barely five days after some students of the  College of Agriculture and Animals Science, Bakura, were released, occurred around 11am when the students were sitting their examinations.

As of the time the gunmen were attacking the Kaya school, the state governor, Bello Matawalle, was attending a prayer session organised by his administration, where he called on the residents of the state to rise up and fight the bandits back.

In its reaction to the latest incident, the Arewa Consultative Forum expressed sadness over the attack and abduction of the students.

Although residents of the community said 76 students were taken away by the bandits, the police confirmed the abduction of 73 from the school in the Maradun Local Government Area, where the governor hails from.

It was learnt that the students were in their classrooms when the gunmen stormed the school and asked them to march out.

Findings indicated that some of the students managed to escape as the gunmen were taking their colleagues away.

An indigene of Kaya, Mallam Abu Kaya, who confirmed the incident in an interview with The PUNCH, said although the number of the kidnapped students had yet to be ascertained, the victims could be more than 100.

“We have yet to ascertain the actual number of the students abducted, but we believe that they could be up to 100.”

He added that the school had a population of over 300 students and explained that the town was deserted due to the fear that the bandits could return to the area.

Abu said the gunmen came to the school on motorcycles.

“When they arrived at the school, they blocked some roads leading to the school and began to shoot indiscriminately in order to scare away residents of the town, while some moved into the school and took some of the students away,” he stated.