From Daura, Buhari attends FEC meeting

President Muhammadu Buhari is currently virtially participating in the ongoing meeting of the Federal Executive Council from his home town in Daura, Katsina State.

Buhari relocated to the town last Friday on what the Presidency described as a private visit.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, who is currently on isolation because some members of his family tested positive for COVID-19 is also absent at the meeting.

The Permanent Secretary, Ecological Funds Office, Mrs Habiba Lawal, is standing in for him.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo is presiding from the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Nothing has been heard from the President since school boys over 500 were abducted by terrorists in his hometown of Daura, the abductions happened hours after the President arrived Daura for a “Private Visit”.

The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) on Tuesday, 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.

Noting that a teacher was abducted and later released in Edo while two others kidnapped in Delta were still in captivity, it decried that the abduction of over 300 students from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara has sent shivers through the spine of other members of the entire school community in Katsina.

According to the NUT, the recent incidents are sad reminders of previous ugly events in Chibok and Dapchi where Boko Haram terrorists abducted students, creating a monumental disruption of school activities.

It stressed that the recent bandit attacks on schools, if not immediately addressed will largely affect the 2019/2020 academic calendar.

The union stated that the academic calendar had already been disrupted by the six-month-long lockdown caused by the COVID- 19 pandemic.

It, therefore, called on all stakeholders to support the government and security agencies to provide adequate protection for students, pupils, teachers, and the school communities.

This, according to the NUT, is to ensure educational activities are not hampered by enemies of the educational system who use schools as soft targets.

Earlier today, 17 of the abducted 333 students returned home after escaping from their abductors, leaving 316 of them still in the captivity.

The media aide to Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari said the bandits have warned that security operatives who were monitoring their hideouts with helicopter must stop the action.

This account seems in conflict with reports saying that the terrorist group, Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility for the abduction of the students.

The group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, made the claim in a voice message, stating that they went for the students to promote Islam and discourage western education.

Tuesday’s claim of responsibility marks a major turning point in the advance of jihadist groups in northwest Nigeria.

Boko Haram, and a splinter group, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), are waging an insurgency in the northeast and are thought to have only a minor presence in the northwest.

But concerns have grown of jihadist inroads into the region, especially after fighters claiming to be in the northwest released a propaganda video pledging allegiance to Abubakar Shekau earlier this year.