By Nchetachi Chukwuajah
President Bola Tinubu has charged security agencies to prevent future cases of kidnapping in the country and to ensure the safe return of the remaining St. Mary’s school children still in captivity.
Tinubu’s charge follows the release of 100 school children who were among the 315 people, including students and teachers, abducted in the early hours of Friday, November 21, from the St. Mary’s School in Papiri, in Agwara Local Government Area of the state.
Niger State governor, Mohammed Bago, received the freed pupils at the Government House in Minna on Monday, December 8, a day after the Federal Government facilitated their release.
The children, many of whom were wearing football jerseys and girls in long robes, were driven into the Niger State Government House in white buses escorted by a dozen military vans and armoured vehicles.
Governor Bago said “Welcome” as he shook hands with some of the children and led them into a hall where the emir and local officials were seated to receive them.
In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, and posted on X, President Tinubu commended the efforts of security agencies in ensuring the release of the abducted pupils, adding that all victims must be accounted for.
The statement quoted the president as saying, “I have been briefed on the safe return of 100 students from the Catholic School in Niger State. I rejoice with Governor Umar Bago and commend our security agencies for their steadfast work in ensuring the safe return of the students to their families since the unfortunate incident on November 21.
“My directive remains that all the students and other abducted Nigerians must be rescued and brought back home safely. We must account for all the victims. The Federal Government will continue to work with Niger State and other states to secure our schools and make the learning environment safer and more conducive for our young ones.
“From now on, our security agencies, working with governors, must prevent future kidnappings. Our children should no longer be sitting ducks for heartless terrorists, intent on disrupting their education and subjecting them and their parents to unspeakable trauma.”
Recall that the schoolchildren were kidnapped when gunmen attacked the school in the remote Papiri community on November 21, around 2 am on motorbikes and operating for nearly three hours.
