Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on the Federal Government to immediately declare a state of emergency on insecurity following another mass abduction of schoolchildren in Niger State.
Reacting on Friday to the attack on St. Mary’s Primary and Secondary School in Papiri, Agwara Local Government Area, Atiku warned that the increasing cases of kidnapping across the country require urgent and decisive action. “Not again. This is truly heartbreaking,” he wrote on X, adding that it is “not too late” for the government to confront the menace with the seriousness it demands.
Gunmen reportedly stormed the Catholic-owned school in the early hours of Friday, arriving on more than 60 motorcycles and a van before abducting an unspecified number of students.
The incident adds to a series of recent school kidnappings. Less than a week earlier, bandits seized 26 students from Government Girls Comprehensive Senior Secondary School, Maga, in Kebbi State, during an attack that left Vice Principal Hassan Makuku dead. The Niger raid also came days after gunmen abducted at least 30 worshippers and killed three others during an assault on the Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku, Kwara State.
President Bola Tinubu had earlier condemned the Kebbi and Kwara attacks and directed Vice President Kashim Shettima to visit the affected communities.
