Gunmen release video claiming to show kidnapped Nigerian schoolboys
Nigerian soldiers in Baga, Borno state on April 30, 2013. Gunmen believed to be a criminal gang stormed a school in central Nigeria, killing one student and kidnapping hundreds of others along with some teachers.
Abuja
Gunmen believed to be a criminal gang have released a video claiming to show some of the schoolboys kidnapped in central Nigeria early hours of Wednesday.
The video clip shows the gunmen threatening the victims and state authorities.
Officials say at least 500 people are being held captive by Boko Haram in Nigeria.
President Muhammadu Buhari described Wednesday’s abduction as "brazen attack’’.
The President directed the armed forces and police to ensure immediate and safe return of all the captives.
The President has also dispatched to Minna, Niger State a team of security chiefs to coordinate the rescue operation and meet with state officials, community leaders as well as parents and staff of the college.
The country’s Minister of Defence Major General Bashir Magashi on Wednesday said the schoolchildren kidnapped in Niger state will be rescued.
He said the government will adopt the same strategy used to rescue the hundreds of school children who were kidnapped in Kankara in December 2020.
“We have demonstrated our ability to take on the challenge. We have done it in Katsina, when children were kidnapped, within two days, we got them back.
Meanwhile, the Niger state government has closed boarding schools in four local government areas that are vulnerable to attacks.
The state governor, Mr Sani Bello, gave the order on Wednesday listing the affected as Rafi, Munya, Mariga and Shiroro and also convened an emergency meeting with security heads in the state.
The meeting is to strategise ways to end kidnapping and killings in the state and appealed to the parents and relatives of the abducted schoolchildren to be calm as the children would be rescued.
Gunmen often target boarding schools for attacks and abductions, with previous cases reported in Chibok in Borno state, Dapchi in Yobe state and Kankara in Katsina state.
Boko Haram militants also attacked and killed scores of students at a government school in Buni Yani, Yobe state.
