Breaking: At least 200 students of an Islamiyya school abducted in Niger State

At least 200 students of an Islamiyya school located at Tegina in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State have been abducted.

One person was shot dead while another lays critically injured after gunmen carried out the kidnap operation at about 4:30pm on Sunday.

A resident of the area Zayyad Mohammed confirmed the incident to Channels Television. – According to him, the Salihu Tanko Islamiyya school where the incident took place, was built by a retired Immigration Officer.

The story reads, “Details of the attack are still sketchy, but according to sources, the Islamiyya school is not the usual Sangaya boarding Islamic school, but a conventional one where parents send their children on a daily basis for the purpose of acquiring Islamic education”.

In a statement issued on twitter monitored by NewsWireNGR, the Director General of the Strategic Operations, ICT And Public Enlightenment Unit, Government House Minna, Abdullberqy Ebbo @Nupenchi_ wrote confirming the abduction.

“Bandit have attack Tegina in Niger state where an IDP was reportedly shot dead by the bandits” his statement reads in parts.

He added, “While an unconfirmed number of children from Salihu Tanko Islamic School were kidnapped. The state government is still receiving security reports on the unfortunate incident”.

NewsWireNGR recalls that on the 17th February 2021, a school pupil was killed and 27 others were abducted by armed men at around 3 AM from their school in Kagara, Niger State, Nigeria.

Three members of the school’s staff and 12 of their relatives were also abducted, until the government secured their release with multiple reports claiming the government had paid ransom for their eventual release. Kidnappings for ransom by armed groups, many of whom carry guns and ride motorcycles, are common across many northern Nigerian states.

A mass abduction in April 2014 by jihadist group Boko Haram saw 276 girls abducted from a secondary school in Chibokin Borno state. More than a hundred of the girls are still missing. Five years after the kidnapping of 276 girls from Chibok, many schools in northeastern Nigeria are still not safe. Student numbers have dropped and education is still suffering under the threat of Boko Haram.