Yobe shuts schools after deadly attack
Secondary schools in Yobe State have been shut until a new academic session begins in September, following the school attack that left dozens of students dead in Potiskum local government area on Saturday. Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, who ordered the closure yesterday, said it was to give authorities time to figure out how to better protect […]
Secondary schools in Yobe State have been shut until a new academic session begins in September, following the school attack that left dozens of students dead in Potiskum local government area on Saturday.
Speaking during a visit to the attacked school earlier yesterday, Gaidam urged the Federal Government and military authorities to restore GSM service which was cut since the declaration of state of emergency in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states in May.
He said in the two recent attacks on schools in Yobe, residents were reported to have sighted the attackers in the outskirts of Damaturu but had no way of contacting the Joint Task Force because of cell phone service cut off.
The governor offered government’s help to students injured in the attack, and urged security agencies to do more to protect the people. He also pledged to fence all boarding schools.
During the visit to the school, state commissioner of education Alhaji Mohammed Lamin told Gaidam that two more students died while on admission in the Potiskum General Hospital, bringing the death toll to 24.
Recounting the incident, the commissioner said the attackers assembled the students before opening fire on them from different directions.
A Daily Trust reporter who visited the school yesterday reported that soldiers and policemen were stationed there. In the school premises, our reporter observed a burnt administrative block and blood stains on the floor of the student’s dormitory.
An old man of about 70 years who lives close to the school told Daily Trust this was the first such gruesome incident that has happened around. “I counted 23 corpses just outside the dormitory,” he said, adding he helped security men to evacuate the bodies.
One of the school teachers who was seen on his way to the farm said the attack could have been averted if the authorities had taken preventive measures. “Months ago, some assailants visited the village and killed Nuhu Datam, saying they were in the village to burnt down the school. Fortunately for us they couldn’t get petrol but promised that they will be back,” he said.
“The principal left with his family, all other administrative staff and teachers also left apart from Malam Ibrahim Tikau whom I personally advised to rent a house outside the school but as God has destined it, Malam was killed in the staff quarters after telling me on Friday that he has rented a house in Potiskum.”
He said the students were left to their fate. “No security personnel was assigned to the school, no perimeter fence,” he added.
At the hospital in Potiskum, Sani Mohammed, one of the surviving students who had a bullet wound in his arm, told Daily Trust: “We were sleeping when some gunmen broke into the room and poured petrol on our bodies. I woke up and discovered that they have surrounded us.
“One of them asked us to lie down on the floor. We all complied. They selected the younger ones among us and asked them to stay behind. They opened fire on about 20 of us. The next thing I know is seeing myself on hospital bed,” he said.
Another student gave an account of his close shave to Daily Trust: “We were rounded up by the attackers. They later conveyed us to the principal’s office for screening. What they did there was checking our armpits and genitals to see if you have any pubic hair. They released the underaged among us and open fire on the adult ones.
“I just cannot tell how I managed to escape from the office, because they threw explosives into the office after they opened fire on us. I just found myself running in the bush.”
A nurse in the hospital told our correspondent that four injured students were brought alive. “One of them died instantly, one was taken to Federal Medical Center Azare on referral, while the other two are responding to treatment.”
“As at the time they brought the first batch, I saw about 23 corpses but they later on brought more, so I cannot say exactly the total (dead),” she added
‘They will go to hell’
In his reaction to the Yobe school killings, President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday cursed the attackers, saying they will go to hell.
“The killing is barbaric, completely wicked. Anybody who will target innocent children for any kind of grief or emotional dysfunction will certainly go to hell,” Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati said in a statement.
“Mr President wants to assure Nigerians that these kind of desperate Nigerians will be flushed out of the system. Mr President is committed to the issue of the protection of lives and properties of all Nigerians and he wants to assure that the war against terrorists has been launched and will continue and the Nigerian government is determined to put an end to this menace.
“The president sympathises with the families affected and he stands by them at this moment of grief. The killing is most unfortunate most regrettable and Mr. President wants to assure Nigerians that any attempt by any group to undermine this government will be resisted.”
Senate President David Mark also condemned the violence. “Even in war situations, children and women are protected. Killing children is akin to cutting down the future of a people. This is inhuman, barbaric and unacceptable to any right thinking member of the society,” he said.
“For no reason, the lives of these promising children were needlessly cut down by the heartless people. This cannot be a way of life. Enough of these bloodshed,” he added.