Terrorists Abduct Vice Principal, 73 Students In Northwest Nigeria

A vice principal and 73 students were Wednesday, Sept. 1 abducted by a group of terrorists from Day Secondary School Kaya, in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State, Northwest Nigeria.

A resident of Kaya village, Abdullahi Kaya, who witnessed the incident told HumAngle that “the attack occurred around 11:45 a.m. and lasted till 12:50 p.m. My house is very close to the school, and I was inside the house when the terrorists arrived on motorcycles. They were with their guns and other firearms.”

He added that the attack caused a pandemonium in the school as students ran helter-skelter for safety.

Another eyewitness, Amiru Muhammad Kaya, a volunteer staff of the school told HumAngle that  “nobody can appropriately tell the exact number of those abducted now.”

“We are still compiling and tracing the students available with us, so that we can identify the missing ones,” Kaya said as of the time of filing this report.

“Our Vice Principal Academics, Malam Zayyanu Take-Tsaba is among the people kidnapped on this most unfortunate day. Our enrollment figure I think is close to 553 students. But those physically present today from our records stand at 403 students.”

Police in the state confirmed that 73 students were taken away by the terrorists.

Shehu Mohammed, Police spokesperson in the state confirmed the news in a statement issued Wednesday evening.

Mohammed said that Ayuba Elkanah, Commissioner of Police in the state has “deployed a search and rescue team that was mandated to work in synergy with the military to ensure the safe rescue of the abducted students.”

He also relayed the commissioner’s appeal “to the general public, especially parents and relatives of the abducted students, to exercise patience and continue to pray for the success of the ongoing rescue operation,” adding that security has been beefed up at Kaya village and environs in order to prevent further attacks.

I escaped through the window

A student of the school, Amina Bala who escaped when the terrorists arrived at the school told HumAngle that she escaped through a window in her classroom.

“I managed to escape through the window before the terrorists reached our class when they started shooting their guns sporadically,” the visibly terrified student said.

After crossing over the window located at the back of our class, I ran into the bush and hid there until I sensed that they had left.”

A parent who is also a former local government councillor in Maradun Local Government Council said his four daughters were among those abducted by the terrorists.

“I have four  daughters and I am sure they must have been among those kidnapped in the school. Because up to this moment, we have not heard from them,” said the former lawmaker who declined to give his name.