The Kebbi State Governor, Mohammed Nasir Idris, has expressed frustration over the failure to act on credible intelligence provided by the Department of State Services (DSS), which revealed a clandestine plot to attack the Government Girls’ Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, in Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area.
The governor also announced the establishment of a special investigation panel to determine how, despite the DSS intelligence and efforts by the state government, the kidnappers were still able to strike.
The panel, which will also oversee the safe return of the kidnapped students, will be headed by the State DSS director.
Suspected gunmen attacked the school in the early hours of Monday, reportedly shooting dead the vice-principal and kidnapping 25 female students. Three of the students managed to escape.
A top security source revealed that Governor Idris, who arrived at the school at about 6:45 pm on Monday, accused unnamed security agencies of sabotaging security efforts made by his administration.
“This is clear sabotage. We received credible intelligence from the DSS that this school was likely to be attacked. The DSS further advised that we convene an emergency Security Council meeting, which we did. The decision was that we would provide round-the-clock protection for the students,” said the governor.
He stated that he took the DSS report seriously, bearing in mind that the failure to act on similar intelligence led to the December 2020 kidnapping of over 300 pupils of a school in Kankara, Katsina State.
The governor lamented that deployments had been made to secure the school.
“The heavily armed security personnel spent time taking photographs with the students, only to abandon them 30 minutes before the attack,” he further revealed.
One of the teachers who managed to escape said that, given the presence of several armed uniformed men deployed to the school on Sunday—who spent considerable time interacting with the students and teachers and teaching them emergency drills—he was shocked at the tragic turn of events.
“The heavily armed security personnel spent the entire night guarding the school. Sadly, for reasons yet to be determined, they reportedly left the school before dawn. About 30 minutes after they withdrew, the kidnappers struck, abducting the students,” the teacher said.
“I believe it was the accuracy and credibility of the intelligence supplied by the DSS on the school that led Governor Idris to appoint their director to head the special committee he set up.
“The good news is that there is sufficient reason to believe that the girls were kidnapped, not killed. With ongoing efforts by the federal and state governments, we are hopeful that they will all be rescued,” he declared.
Linus Aleke
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