… As govt shuts schools
President Mohammadu Buhari has condemned the bandits’ attack at the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State in the early hours of Saturday.
The President in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, ordered the army and the police to go after the attackers to ensure that no student is harmed.
He also urged the school authorities to carry out an audit of the population of students, following shootings that sent hundreds of children fleeing and scrambling over perimeter walls.
The President, however, advised that parents who rushed to the school to take their children should notify the school and police authorities to have a full account of the school population.
“I strongly condemn the cowardly bandits to attack innocent children at the Science School, Kankara.
“Our prayers are with the families of the students, the school authorities and the injured,”
“I have also directed the reinforcement of security of all schools in line with the safe schools’ policy of the administration,” the statement said
Meanwhile, Aminu Masari, the Katsina State governor has ordered the immediate closure of all boarding secondary schools in the state.
This follows the abduction of dozens of students of the Government Science Secondary School Kankara by bandits on Friday night.
The Governor who visited the school on Saturday for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation with his Deputy, Alhaji Mannir Yakubu, and other top government officials met with the school officials, some parents, traditional and religious leaders as well as security officials.
The Governor pleaded with residents to be patient and show restraint and understanding, assuring them that the government will do every necessary thing to ensure the release of all the abducted students.
He said security officials comprising the military, the police, and the Department of State Security had swung into action and were on the trail of the abductors.
Governor Masari further assured that both the Federal and the state governments were doing their best to bring an end to banditry and other debilitating crimes in the state.
According to him, the government is very firm in its resolve to be ruthless in any engagement with the bandits.
