Zamfara Shuts Public Schools As Kidnapping Escalates

By Tosin Olatokunbo

Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara state has ordered the immediate closure of primary and secondary schools in the state following the abduction of a yet-to-be determined number of students in the state.

The state has been the epicenter of abduction with scores of school children kidnapped in the last few months by bandits who normally demand huge sums of money before the victims could be released.

The state was recently in a happy mood after the bandits released 19 abductees which included 15 students, three teachers and a driver, who were kidnapped by bandits after they attacked Zamfara College of Agriculture in Bakura Local Government Area of the state on August 16.

Sources told the magazine that huge sums of money were paid by the family members of the abductees before they regained freedom. Recall that the bandits had demanded for N350 million as ransom for the kidnapped students.

But the abduction of 73 students in a remote Kaya village in the state has forced the government to close schools, in order not to further put the lives of the students at risk in the now highly volatile state.

Speaking on the closure, the State Commissioner of Police, Ayuba Elkana, said the action became necessary in the face of the prevailing security challenges facing the state.

He said the order affect both primary and secondary schools, and it is ‘indefinite’ because of the immediate threat posed by the bandits

According to him “It’s a threat, you know the bandits will like to go back to kidnap these students, so for their safety the schools have to be closed until peace is restored in the state.”

The government also restricted movement – from 6pm to 6am- in 13 local government areas. But for Gusau, the capital, movement restriction will be from 8pm to 6am.

Zamfara, just like other states in the northwest and north-central have been facing serious security challenges by bandits – believed to be hiding in Rugu forest, which straddles Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara and Niger states – to increasingly attacking schools, seizing students to extort ransom from parents.

The United Nation’s has recently claimed that close to 1000 students have been kidnapped so far by the dare-devil bandits in the last eight months. Some abductees have been reported dead in captivity.