By Valentine Amanze, Online Editor
Some suspected armed bandits have struck and whisked away not less than 20 pupils and teachers at another school in the Rema area of Kaduna State, North-West Nigeria.
The Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs in the state, Samuel Aruwan, confirmed the abduction in a statement on Monday.
He said that the primary school attacked by the bandits was located in the Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of the state.
The commissioner further disclosed that the state government was currently obtaining details on the actual number of pupils and teachers reported to have been kidnapped.
He assured that more details of the abduction would be provided soon.
Four Attempts In One Week
This latest abduction of pupils is the second in the recent series of attacks by bandits in Kaduna State.
In the last five days, the gunmen attempted to attack at least four schools – at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.
The other schools are Turkish International Secondary School, Government Science Secondary school, Ikara, as well as Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka.
While the military successfully thwarted two of the attacks, bandits abducted persons from the schools in Rema and Afaka.
The Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation came under attack very early on Friday, not long after bandits attempted to attack the Turkish school.
However, military operatives promptly arrived at the scene, leading to the rescue of 180 people comprising 132 male students, 40 female students, and eight civilian staff members of the school.
Following the incident, the authorities in Kaduna said 39 students, comprising 23 female and 16 male students were still missing.
A day after the attack, the rescued students were brought back to the school in military vehicles to pick their belongings while the school authorities asked all students to vacate the premises.
On Saturday, a disturbing video surfaced in which the abducted college students called for help.
In the clip published by Channels Television, the students were seen being beaten by their captors, as they pleaded with the government to rescue them.
They were seen huddled together and sitting on tree leaves, with gun-wielding men, some of them dressed in military uniform, keeping watch over them.