Gov Masari briefs President Buhari on kidnapped school children, says outlook of rescue progress positive, as position of abductors located

By BASHIR ADEFAKA

President Muhammadu Buhari Monday in Daura, Katsina State, received more briefing on children kidnapped from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, with an assurance from Governor Aminu Bello Masari of steady progress to bring them out unharmed.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement sent to The DEFENDER.

According to the statement, the outllook of the progress being made is positive.

“We are making progress and the outlook is positive,’’ the Governor told newsmen after an hour meeting with the President, which started at 2pm.

The Governor, who was accompanied by the Deputy Governor of the state, Manir Yakubu, said the kidnappers had made contact and discussions were already on pertaining to safety and return to their homes.

Governor Masari also noted that security agencies had located the position of the children.

The Governor said the President was fully committed to the rescue of the school children, adding that it was only appropriate to visit the President and give him more details of rescue efforts.

On Friday evening, gunmen attacked Government Science Secondary School in the Kankara council area of the north-west state, kidnapping scores of students.

Police authorities said they received a report of the attack around 11:30 pm and were told the bandits were armed with AK-47 rifles.

Initially, there were conflicting figures as to the number of students abducted during the attack but two days after the incident – Sunday – Governor Masari confirmed that 333 schoolchildren were missing from the school, which The DEFENDER also reported.

The figure however was of missing, which may not represent the number of students actually abducted as, according to an Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) leader, Prof. Kamal Bello, “number of students missing could also include number of those absent and those who ran away for dear lives during the shootings by the Invaders, heralded the sad event.”

Governor Masari spoke about the number during the visit of Federal Government delegation to him in Katsina on Saturday.

“We are still counting because more are coming out from the forest and we are calling through the numbers those parents that have phone numbers to find out whether or not their children have gone back home,” he said when he received a Federal Government delegation led by the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno.

The attack prompted the Katsina State Government to order the closure of all boarding schools in the state, a move aimed at forestalling similar occurrence.