‘Kankara school abduction shouldn’t be another Chibok, Dapchi’

Immediate action, not rhetoric, to prevent another Chibok or Dapchi abductions scenario

The Coalition for Peace and National Security (CPNS) has condemned Friday’s bandits’ attack on Government Science Secondary School (GSSS), Kankara, in Katsina State, where scores out of 800 students of the school are reportedly missing.

The CPNS National Coordinator, Dr. Mohammed Maigoro and National Secretary, Barrister Tunde Funsho, said on Saturday in Abuja that the attack on innocent school children was not only cowardly but also callous and a crime against humanity, prohibited under the international humanitarian law.

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The organisation described the action of the bandits against innocent school children as unacceptable, tasking security agencies to immediately swing into action to not only rescue the missing students but also apprehend the perpetrators and make them face the consequences of their action.

They warned that immediate action and not rhetoric should be taken to prevent another Chibok or Dapchi schools’ unresolved abductions scenarios.

The organisation said the development was a sad reminder of the terrorists’ attacks on Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State on the night of 14 April 2014, where 276 girls writing West African Examination Council (WAEC), were abducted and another attack on 19 February 2018 at Government Girls’ Science and Technical College (GGSTC) Dapchi, Yobe State that left some students dead and others missing.

They lament that the action of the bandits is a setback for Nigeria’s effort towards the enhancement of child education and development.

“This latest development is yet another confirmation that the country is porous without security. We wish to join the clarion call on our President Muhammadu Buhari, to immediately rejig the nation’s security architecture beginning with the sack of the service chiefs who apart from overstaying in office, have become exhausted to face the increasingly worsening security situation of our country.

“There is no indication that they are capable of turning the tide against terrorists, bandits and kidnappers any more, given the daily ugly security developments in the country. We call on him to be more concerned about this than regime protection as everyone has embraced democracy with no one reasoning along that line anymore,” they said.

While commiserating with parents of the children and victims of the incessant killings in the North in particular and the country in general, the coalition called on the bandits to lay down their arms and release those in their custody.