Our abductors were not Nigerians - Escaped Kebbi school student recounts ordeal

A female student of the Federal Government College, Birnin-Yauri, Kebbi State, who escaped the attack on the school on Thursday, believes the gunmen are not Nigerians.

On Thursday, gunmen had stormed the school in motorcycles and reportedly kidnapped many students.

During the attack, police officers on the ground were said to have been overpowered, leading to the death of an officer.

Some teachers were also said to have been kidnapped alongside the students.

Speaking after the attack, the female student said two of her schoolmates, who sustained gunshot injuries during the attack, were currently receiving treatment.

She noted that some of the students were released by the gunmen, while others were taken away.

They took four teachers — Mr Kabantyok, Mallam Bash, the security officer, and the VP, student affairs; they took Mr Jekonia, that tall man in the primary school, and they took his wife,” she said.

“They took some students. They shot one Senior Secondary School 3 boy. They shot two students. I think they are under treatment now.

“They took SSS 1 and SSS 2 students, mostly girls and those people (referring to the gunmen), I don’t think they are from Nigeria at all.”

The Kebbi incident is the latest on the list of attacks on schools across the northern part of the country.

There have been a series of attacks on schools and abduction of pupils and students in Northern Nigeria.

Last Thursday, a student was killed and at least 10 people were kidnapped when gunmen raided the main campus of the Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic in Zaria, Kaduna state.

The gunmen abducted two lecturers and eight students, according to Samuel Aruwan, the state's commissioner of internal security.

Aruwan confirmed that two students were shot; one died while the other was being treated in hospital.