By Valentine Amanze, Online Editor
For the fear of the unknown security operatives on Saturday March 13, 2021, escorted students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Kaduna State to pick their belongings and vacate the premises.
The students arrived at the school early in the morning on military trucks while some parents were on the ground to receive their children and take them home.
After their arrival, a mild drama happened as three female students fainted on sighting the school.
The students collapsed to the ground as they were said to be suffering from the psychological trauma they went through when bandits attacked their school.
They were, however, rescued by their colleagues who moved them to a well-ventilated place where they later regained their consciousness.
Following the incident, the management of the institution and asked the students to vacate the school immediately.
The students brought back by the soldiers were those whose abduction was foiled by the military in the Afaka area of Kaduna State.
Despite the effort of the troops to thwart the attack, authorities in the state confirmed that 39 students of the institution were still missing.
The Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs in the state, Samuel Aruwan, said 23 female and 16 male students were still missing.
He added that efforts were being sustained by the security agencies to track the missing students.
The school is just a few kilometres away from the Nigerian Defence Academy, and it also not too far from the Kaduna International Airport Road which is one of the hotbeds of banditry and kidnapping in the state.
However, the military said 180 students, comprising of 132 male students, 40 female students, and eight civilian staff members of the school were rescued.
It noted that troops had thwarted an attempt by armed bandits to kidnap students of the Turkish International Secondary School in the Rigachikun area of the state.