The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, arrived at the government house in Kaduna State on Tuesday for a meeting with the State Governor, Uba Sani.
The meeting was in connection with the recent abduction of 287 primary and secondary school students in Kuriga community, Chikun Local Government Area.
Upon arrival, the IGP was welcomed by the Chief of Staff to the governor, Sani Kila, and the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Yusuf Liman.
During the meeting, the IGP stated that the Police High Command will use all available strategies, including both kinetic and non-kinetic approaches, to rescue the victims.
He also mentioned that additional mobile policemen and special forces will be sent to the affected communities and other vulnerable areas in Kaduna to combat banditry, kidnappings, and terrorism.
Egbetokun’s visit comes after the students were kidnapped from their schools last Thursday.
A teacher from a school that was attacked by bandits, Sani Abdullahi, shared how he was able to escape from the bush during the incident. He revealed that out of the 287 students, 100 were taken from the primary school and 187 were taken from the secondary school. Both schools are located on the same grounds.
“I resumed to the school today at exactly 7.47 a.m. I entered the Acting Principal’s office and signed. All of a sudden the Acting Principal asked me to look behind me and when I turned, we discovered that bandits had surrounded the school premises. We became confused and didn’t know where to go.
“Then, the bandits asked us to enter the bush, so we obeyed them because they were many, and the pupils who were about 700 were following us. So when we entered the bush, I was lucky to escape alongside many other people.
“So, I returned to the village and reported what happened to the community. So, immediately our vigilante and personnel of KADVS followed the bandits, but the vigilante did not succeed. The bandits killed one of the vigilantes, we just buried him.
“It was when we came back from that pursuit that we briefed the Village Head and we started making efforts to know the actual number of pupils and teachers taken away by the bandits.
“At GSS Kuriga, 187 students are presently missing. In the primary school, 125 pupils were initially missing, but, 25 of them escaped and retired home.”
Following the incident, Governor Sani visited the community where it occurred. He reassured the people that the kidnapped children would be returned safely and promptly. He mentioned that security agencies were working tirelessly to secure their release.
