Bandits have attacked a government college in Niger with many schoolchildren feared kidnapped.

Details of the abduction were sketchy as of the time of filing this report.

The kidnapping of schoolchildren has become a pastime for bandits and terrorists in Nigeria.  

This is not the first time schoolchildren would be abducted in Nigeria, a country grappling with worsening insecurity. In 2014, under former President Goodluck Jonathan, about 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped from their hostels.

Under President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime, terrorists, bandits, and killer herdsmen have had a field day. In 2018, about 100 schoolgirls were kidnapped in Dapchi, Yobe. One of them, Leah Sharibu (a Christian), had yet to be rescued.

Last December, the Jihadist group, Boko Haram, claimed responsibility for the abduction of many schoolboys from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara in Katsina.

“What happened in Katsina was done to promote Islam and discourage un-Islamic practices as Western education is not the type of education permitted by Allah and his Holy Prophet.

“In a nutshell, we are behind what happened in Katsina,” the leader of the terrorist sect, Abubakar Shekau, had said in a four-minute recording.

Mr. Shekau’s admission deflated the assumption that the schoolboys’ abduction in the Kankara local government area was perpetrated by bandits.

The students were later freed as the military claimed it rescued them.

It said while kinetic and non-kinetic approaches were used to ensure all the boys were rescued unhurt, there was resistance from the abductors who laid an ambush against the troops.

Maj.-Gen. John Enenche, and Ahmed Jibrin, a former director of military intelligence, gave the accounts when they featured on a TV programme, ‘Good Morning Nigeria,’ on NTA.

Mr. Jibrin said, “Following the directive, the troop closed in on the abductors from four different fronts, including the reinforcement that was made from other divisions to ensure that the entire location was sealed off.

“The bandits were all under siege and they were fully aware of that, feeling the impacts of the presence of the troops both from the air and on the ground.

“When they approached the location where the boys were held, the troops encountered some pockets of opposition which they cleared and moved deeper into the forest.”

Mr. Enenche added, “There was no conspiracy of silence. All that we needed were provided even from the locals, and before you know it, we were able to locate the place.

“All the kinetic and non-kinetic blockades were all effectively monitored.

“This is to the extent that even when they were going to leave their enclave to make bulk purchases from the market, we got information.”