Dozens of people, including children, have been kidnapped by armed men from the Tajudeen Islamic Foundation and children’s home located in Zariagi, a community near Kabba Junction, Adavi Local Government Area of Kogi State, and Akwando Road in the Kafancha LGA of Kaduna State on Sunday.
While several students in a car on their way to restart school in Kachia were ambushed and kidnapped, along with the driver and two other passengers, youngsters were abducted from the Kogi orphanage, along with the proprietor’s two wives and his two children, writes Daily Trust.
The Kaduna victims are Senior Secondary 2 student at Government Secondary School, Gumel, Augustina Muntari; Junior Secondary School 2 student at the school, Happy Muntari; JSS2 students at GSS, Kachia, Favour Tanimu and Patience Joseph; and St. John’s School, Kachia, Peace Irimiya and Bishara Irimiya. Others include driver Irimiya Galadima and two passengers, Fatu Danladi and Laraba Caleb.
It was stated that 17 children at the Kogi orphanage and school, and 15 Kaduna kids who narrowly missed abduction and fled into the woods for safety have returned home.
The kidnappers have also reportedly demanded N150m ransom for the release of the remaining nine hostages abducted in Kogi.
Survivors on how kidnappers stormed orphanage
The son of the proprietor of the orphanage home, Farouk Hassan, who narrowly escaped the kidnapping, informed our correspondent that the gunmen raided the facility about 10.30pm on Sunday and forcefully took away his mother, siblings and children of the orphanage home.
He said his mother and several other people were hanging around outside the school when all of a sudden the kidnappers emerged and chased them inside the school premises.
My mom was the first one to see them then she started yelling, ‘Who are they coming? They look so bizarre She got up and ran in the direction of the compound. “We all ran to different rooms in the compound to follow up immediately,” Hassan added.
He added that his mother began to call for help after the attackers entered the room and targeted his younger brother, and he managed to escape through the back door and into the bush.
I then called my father and told him we were being attacked. “The kidnappers were many, some had guns, some had cutlasses and many of them wore face masks,” I was terrified of them, I didn’t know what they were going to do. I don’t know where my mother, brother and sister are today. I don’t want anything to happen to them.” “I want them home safe.” “Nothing should happen to them, the government should help us bring them back home safely,” Hassan said.
“The gunmen came into the school and took away students, the wives and children of the proprietor and also the children in the orphanage,” Hajarat Isah, a teacher at the school, told the News Agency of Nigeria.
Nine of them are still in custody. “The kidnappers have called the proprietor and demanded the sum of N150 million for the abducted victims to regain their freedom,” she said.
Dr Tajudeen Mohammed Salihu, owner of Daarul-Kitab Islamic Training Centre and Tajudeen Islamic Foundation and children’s home, reported 17 children went into the jungle to hide and returned to the school unharmed.
He appealed to the Kogi State government to aid the school in ensuring that the remaining nine victims, still being held hostage, are rescued.
“The school is not for orphans, “but for children of the disadvantaged members in society who cannot take care of their children. We take good care of them, and we give them free education, so they can integrate into society in the future.” “We use the little we get from spirited organisations and individuals to take care of our students,” he said.
Police, govt respond
The Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Naziru Kankarofi, said that the command received a distress call that a school and orphanage home (Daarul-Kitab) was attacked by assailants on Sunday at about 11:35pm.
“A combined team of hunters, vigilantes and the police went after the kidnappers and in the process, 17 victims were rescued while nine persons are still in the kidnappers’ den.
The nine victims were two spouses of the school’s proprietor and seven students,” he added.
The CP said a joint search team of police, military and other auxiliary security elements had been launched into the woods to retrieve the other nine victims.
“We had to put a lot of pressure on the kidnappers and that is what helped us to rescue the first batch of 17 victims,” he said.
“The school was not registered by the government,” stated the police commissioner adding that the location is an isolated area and not good for habitation.
“There is no perimeter fencing for the facility, there is no access road, some of the classrooms are still under construction and the environment is not conducive for teaching and learning. Secondly, because of lack of registration, we cannot catch the school on our safe school initiative for security services to be sent there,” he said.
CP Kankarofi has told the parents of the victims that the command will rescue the remaining nine victims.
“It is our duty to do that and we are determined and always ready to ensure that we provide an enabling environment for teaching and learning. “I am advising parents to always send their children to a school that is safe and secured because any responsible person will not take his or her child to facilities where there is no security of life and property,” he said.
The Kogi State government also condemned the attack on the orphanage and educational facility, characterizing the tragedy as “unfortunate and avoidable”.
The Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, said in a statement on Monday that efforts were continue to secure the release of the other victims. He praised the security authorities, saying their timely and coordinated response had gone a long way in minimizing the damage of the incident.
But the authorities expressed alarm about unregistered institutions operating in remote areas.
He warned that the establishment of orphanages, schools and similar institutions in sensitive locations without proper registration and notification to the authorities posed major security dangers, particularly in the current security context.
The proprietor, however, denied operating an unregistered school, noting that it was created in 2021 and registered by the Kogi State Ministry of Education.
Kaduna abduction: 3 others, 6 pupils kidnapped
Bandits have also attacked a vehicle carrying learners from Akwando village in Kachia LGA and abducted nine persons, six of them are students.
The attackers ambushed the van when the victims were on their way to resume school in Kachia, it was reported.
One of the residents who spoke with our correspondent said the driver tried to leave but was overpowered by the attackers.
During the incident a student, named as Purity Babangida, was hiding under the truck but was crushed to death by the driver trying to escape, the source added.
It was gathered that not less than 15 children leaped off the driving van and traveled for hours through the wilderness to surrounding settlements including Awon where they were received among the confusion.
“They all got home safe and sound today (Monday) thanks to the security,” the insider told our correspondent.
Meanwhile, families of those in captivity are in agony awaiting word on their loved ones while people are calling on security services to scale up efforts to secure highways and preserve lives.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Mansur Hassan, was not available for comment. His phone was not answered and he had not replied to a text message sent to him at the time of reporting this report.
But a police source in the neighborhood confirmed the incident had happened but would not comment further.
Community calls for victims to be freed
The Publicity Secretary of Kuturmi Unity Development Association (KUDA), Manasseh Samuel, in a statement on Monday condemned the attack, adding “this senseless act of violence against innocent travellers, particularly students, is very disturbing and unacceptable.
The statement said in part: “There were a total of 25 passengers including the driver engaged in the event. The following persons were abducted in the attack: Augustina Muntari (SS2, GSS Gumel), Happy Muntari (JS2, GSS Gumel), Favour Tanimu (JS2, GSS Kachia), Patience Joseph (JS2, GSS Kachia), Peace Irimiya (St. John), Bishara Irimiya (St. John), Irimiya Galadima, Fatu Danladi and Larba Caleb. The incident sadly also claimed the life of Purity Babangida.
We send our sincere sympathies to the family of the deceased, and stand with them in this time of sadness. “KUDA is concerned about the escalating prevalence of kidnappings in our neighborhoods.
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