15 Students of Islamiyya School Kidnapped in Rafi LGA of Niger State

BY YM BINA

No fewer than 15 students of Islamiyya school at Mai-Kujeri village between Kagara and Pandongari in Rafi local government has been abducted in Niger state.

The incident occurred on Saturday around 11 o’clock in the morning, while the said students went to their Malam’s farm to harvest maize were informed by a good Samaritan about the movement of the bandits towards their village.

The innocent students all rushed towards home in fear of being kidnapped, on getting closer to the village they sighted the armed men and scattered inside the bush unfortunately 15 of them were abduction to unknown destinations by the abductors who are yet to get back on whereabout them.

It was reported that the local government chairman is sick while the vice chairperson has travelled to Saudi Arabia to perform lesser hajji (Umrah).

It was reliably gathered that the acting chairman of Rafi local government and the DPO of the local council had paid a sympathy visit to the Malam at Mai-Kujeri village where he confirmed 15 of his students were in the custody of their abductors.

This has dismissed the reports that 50 of the Islamiyya students were kidnapped, however, there is no official statements issued by the security agencies neither the state government at the time of filing this report

Consequently, the Social Democratic Party SDP (SDP) in Niger state has condemned the state governor Umaru Mohammed Bago over his handling of the security situation in the state, saying that the governor is more concerned about the 2027 re-election than the lives of the people.

The opposition party in a statement issued by Johnathan Vatsa, the spokesperson of the governorship candidate of the party

in Minna, said the governor has failed to protect the lives of those he is seeking their mandate in 2027, adding that there is no day passes without attack on innocent villagers by gunmen resulting in either kidnap or killings.