President Bola Tinubu, on Thursday, directed the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, to relocate to Kebbi State to coordinate security operations for the rescue of schoolgirls abducted earlier in the week.
“Matawalle, who was formerly Governor of Zamfara State, was asked to remain in the state to monitor security efforts to secure the release of the abducted students,” the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, revealed in a statement Thursday night.
Gunmen had, in the early hours of Monday, invaded Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga town, Kebbi State, and kidnapped at least 24 students.
The Kebbi State government said the attackers arrived around 4:00 a.m., shooting sporadically before herding the girls into the bush.
A Presidency official said that Matawalle is expected in Birnin Kebbi where he will lead “on-the-ground coordination” with the military, police and other security agencies already deployed in the affected area.
According to the official, the directive is meant to leverage Matawalle’s experience dealing with mass abductions during his tenure as Zamfara governor between 2019 and 2023, when the North-West grappled with a wave of school kidnappings.
On February 26, 2021, bandits abducted 279 female students of Government Girls’ Science Secondary School, Jangebe, in Zamfara State.
The girls, aged between 10 and 17, were freed days later after negotiations that involved federal and state actors.
Tinubu, who has been under pressure since the Kebbi abductions and the attack on a Church in Kwara State, also postponed his scheduled trips to Johannesburg, South Africa, and Luanda, Angola, to receive continuous briefings on the development.
“The President had postponed his scheduled trip as he awaited further security briefings on the kidnapped Kebbi schoolgirls and the attack on Christ Apostolic Church worshippers in Eruku, Kwara State,” the statement read in part.
The latest kidnap adds to a long list of assaults on schools since the 2014 abduction of 276 girls from Chibok, Borno State, which drew global outrage.
The PUNCH
