Boko Haram claims kidnapping of Nigeria students in north
by Sam Olukoya, The Associated Press
Posted Dec 15, 2020 4:48 am EDT
Last Updated Dec 15, 2020 at 4:58 am EDT
LAGOS, Nigeria Nigeria’s Boko Haram jihadist rebels have claimed responsibility for the abduction of hundreds of students in an attack on a boys school in northern Katsina State, a Nigerian online newspaper says.
More than 330 students are missing from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara after gunmen with assault rifles attacked their school Friday night.
The Daily Nigerian said it received an audio message from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau saying that his group abducted the schoolboys because Western education is against the tenets of Islam.
The Zamfara State government has ordered the immediate closure of some Boarding and Day Schools in the state.
Mr Ibrahim Abdullahi, who is the Commissioner for Education, made the announcement while briefing reporters in Gusau, the state capital.
He explained that the affected schools were those that share borders with Katsina, Kaduna, and Sokoto States.
The commissioner noted that the three states were prone to banditry, saying that the decision was important to forestall any form of attack on the schools.
He added that the action was necessary considering the security situation in the country and to prevent what happened at the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State.
Channels Television
Updated December 15, 2020
A screenshot taken on December 14, 2020, shows a classroom block at the Government Science Secondary School, Ƙankara, Katsina State. Inset: NUT logo.
The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has called on the government at various levels to live up to the responsibility of securing the lives of Nigerians across the country.
It warned that anything short of this would force members of the union to down tools until when it would be safe for them to teach and guide pupils and students without fear of abduction.
The union gave the warning in a statement on Tuesday by its Secretary-General, Dr Mike Ene, while condemning the recent attack on a school in Katsina State.
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A Nigerian woman whose only son is among the more than 330 boys still missing after being kidnapped from their school in the northern Katsina state last week pleaded for their return in a protest Tuesday, as the jihadist rebel group Boko Haram reportedly claimed responsibility for the mass abduction.
Hundreds of gunmen with assault rifles on Friday surrounded the Government Science Secondary School (GSSS), an all-boys boarding school in the town of Kankara, firing at police before rounding up students and forcing them to march through the heavily forested region in separated groups, witnesses have said.