Sch. Abduction: Presidency Explains Why Security Forces Can’t Bombed Bandits

The Nigerian Presidency says security forces are very careful in bombing bandits hideout in other to avoid any collateral damage against peaceful Nigerians.

Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy made the remark on Monday on Arise Television  programme, Prime Time, saying security agencies are aware of the hideouts of the bandits who kidnapped students from Government Comprehensive Secondary School,  Kebbi and St Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, in Niger State.

Some students have already escaped from their abductors and reunited with their parents,  while security agenesis are still searching for others who are still mission. No fewer than 300 students were reportedly abducted after the bandits attacked the two schools in the northern part of the country last week.

According to Onanuga,  security operatives are very careful in attacking the criminals enclaves despite having the necessary intelligence, to avoid the risk of killing innocent civilians, adding that the government wants to avoid at all cost the mistakes of the past when civilians were killed while security agencies were trying to neutralize terrorists. .

He said: “The security people, they know all the bandits that are operating in that axis. They know them. They know where they operate.

“Our people are living around where they operate. So you can’t just go there. They need to be very careful that in the course of chasing these bandits, they don’t go and bomb innocent Nigerians.

“Some years ago in Borno State, when the military thought they had the right satellite connection, they bombed the wrong people. They must avoid that kind of mistake.”

Meanwhile, Governor Nasir Idris of Kebbi state says the military should be held responsible for the abduction of the 25 female students of the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, wondering why soldiers who were stationed to protect the area, inexplicably abandoned their beat 30 minutes before the terrorists stormed the school, killed the Vice Principal, a school guard, and abducted 25 students. One miraculously escaped.

Speaking when the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abass paid him a courtesy visit on Monday, the governor questioned the rationale behind the withdrawal of troops shortly before the attack on the school and asked who gave the order.

Idris, also, wondered how such a large number of bandits on motorcycles could move freely on the highway without being detected.

He asked: “How can over 500 bandits be riding on motorcycles on our highways without being stopped? We have done our part for the Security Agencies. We provide logistics. We bought over 100 vehicles. Yet, the security architecture is not working.

“If we knew they would leave our girls exposed, we would never have agreed to rely on deployed personnel. We would have closed the school.

“I believe there are enemies working to destabilize this government and the Federal Government. The House must act, especially regarding the worsening security challenges.

“Yesterday, it was Kebbi, today it is Niger and Kwara — who knows where next? We must urgently tackle this situation.”