Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani-Bello, has confirmed the abduction of 27 students, three staff and 12 family members by armed bandits during an attack on Wednesday at the Government Science College, Kagara, Rafi Local Government Area of the state, which also left a student dead.
At a press briefing shortly after an emergency meeting with heads of security agencies in the state, Bello directed all boarding schools in Shiroro, Rafi and Muyan Local Government Areas to be closed with immediate effect until the situation improved.
While urging the Federal Government to deploy all resources to secure the state, while the State Government was doing everything possible to ensure safe return of the students and staff, the governor said, “I call on all Nigerlites to condemn all forms of criminality in the state”.
Bello announced that the state government would not pay ransom to the suspected bandits in order to secure the release of the victims. Rather, he said it was ready to support bandits that surrender their arms. “When you negotiate and pay ransom to criminals, they will use the money to purchase more weapons”.
Reports indicated that Government Science College, Kagara, has a student population of 650, of which the 27 were abducted and one – Benjamin Doma, shot dead by the gunmen who invaded the school at about 2.am in military fatigue.
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