Parents pray for hundreds of students kidnapped in Nigeria’s Katsina

Kankara, December 13

Parents converged on a secondary college in Nigeria’s northwestern Katsina state on Sunday, begging authorities to save lots of tons of of boys kidnapped by gunmen.

More than 300 college students from the all-boys Government Science college in Kankara taken Friday night time remained lacking on Sunday.

“We will not rest until we see the end of this,” state spokesman Abdul Labaran informed Reuters.

Labaran mentioned army and intelligence chiefs had been in Kankara to steer the rescue. While 321 college students had been lacking, he mentioned some may have gone dwelling to different states.

All state colleges in Katsina had been ordered to shut as a result of officers didn’t know the attackers’ motives, the training commissioner mentioned.

Abubakar Lawal got here from Zaria, a metropolis 120 km south of Kanara. Two of his three sons on the college had been among the many lacking.

“From yesterday I was here, praying that the almighty Allah should rescue our people,” he mentioned outdoors the dusty college grounds.

One of his lacking sons, 17-year-old Buhari, was named after President Muhammadu Buhari, a local of Katsina state.

Yahaya, 17, informed Reuters he escaped on Saturday. He gave just one identify for worry of reprisals. He mentioned he sneaked away whereas the abductors transferred college students to completely different places within the forest.

“We met someone with motorcycle who brought us to a nearby village,” he mentioned. “From there someone bought us to Kankara.” He mentioned group leaders informed the boys to not hurt them.

Attacks by armed gangs, extensively referred to as bandits, are widespread all through northwestern Nigeria. The teams assault civilians, stealing or kidnapping them for ransom. Islamist militants are extra widespread within the northeast.

There is rising anger with the precarious safety state of affairs in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation. Late final month, Islamist militants killed scores of farmers in northeastern Borno, beheading a few of them. Reuters