Sunday, July 5, 2026

Bandits raid Sokoto school, abduct 15 students

The Sokoto Police Command spokesperson, Ahmad Rufai, confirmed the kidnapping to Peoples Gazette and emphasised that rescue operations were underway.

• March 9, 2024
Bandits attack
Bandits used to illustrate the story (Credit: Premium Times)

About an hour after midnight on Saturday, hordes of bandits attacked Gidan Bakuso in the Gada Local Government of Sokoto State, kidnapping 15 Tsangaya students and a female villager.

The Sokoto Police Command spokesperson, Ahmad Rufai, confirmed the kidnapping to Peoples Gazette and emphasised that rescue operations were underway.

“We have mobilised a tactical squad led by DC Operations to go after them(the bandits),” Mr Rufai told The Gazette Saturday evening. He stressed that the gunmen kidnapped 15 students and a female villager.

The police spokesperson explained that Gidan Bakuso was a “remote” community located quite a distance from Gada city, so villagers could not immediately alert the police.

This incident is the most recent in a string of kidnappings that have occurred during the week. 

On Thursday, over 200 children, all under 15 years old, were taken into captivity after hordes of motorcycle-riding bandits invaded LEA school in Kuriga village in Kaduna state.

The incident, including the abduction of the principal and some teachers, occurred shortly after the general assembly, around 8:00 a.m., according to Sani Abdullahi, a teacher in the secondary school section, who narrated the tragic experience to the state governor, Uba Sani.

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