– Only 54 students escaped
By Chuks Oyema-Aziken
More details have emerged on Friday’s early morning abduction of 300 female students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Talata-Mafara Local Government area of Zamfara state with a resident of the community narrating how they failed to stop the abductors.
Meanwhile, the state government confirmed thatonly 54 of the students population escaped.
According to the Commissioner of Security and Home Affairs, Alhaji Abubakar Dauran “I can confirm to you now that we have sadly received the report on the abduction of the students of GGSS Jangebe and right now, I am on my way to the school.
“At this moment, l cannot say how many students were taken away by the gunmen until l get there, but we have already mobilised security men and members of the vigilantatè who are now in pursuit of the abductors,” the commissioner stated.
The resident, Haliru Jangebe told NAN that the local vigilantes had tried to repel the invaders but were overpowered.
“The bandits were too many and they all seemed to be carrying heavy arms as we heard gunshots from all parts of the town and when the shots stopped, we heard that the students had been taken away,” he said.
A staff of the school who spoke to NAN said “the gunmen in their hundreds invaded the town around 2 a.m on Friday, shot sporadically in the air to scare the residents before coming into the school.
“After taking away most of the students, we rounded up those that escaped or hid from the bandits and conducted a census where we counted 54 students and we are still searching to see if we can get more,” he said.
The abduction happened hours after the state government said some repentant bandits had surrendered their arms.
Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara has been pushing for a dialogue with bandits for peace to reign.
