The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has condemned the abduction of 317 school children in Zamfara State, while lamenting that with spiralling banditry and kidnappings, the lives of Nigerians are becoming more endangered everyday.
Gunmen had in the early hours on Friday, invaded Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, Talata Mafara Local Government Area, Zamfara State, abducting 317 students.
In a statement issued in Kaduna, the Director, Publicity and Advocacy, of NEF, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, said Nigerians had “lost faith that government will reverse the successes of the criminal against defenceless citizens.”
ThisDay quoted him as saying: “Northern Elders Forum shares the profound shock and outrage of Nigerians at the spate of kidnappings of boarding school children in different parts of the North.”
He noted that the latest incident follows the abduction of student of Government Science School, Kagara, Niger state.
The NEF spokesman stressed that “apart from the likelihood of similar abductions re-occurring as bandits engage in copy cat crimes in a region that is basically unprotected, these abductions will severely damage the poor state of education in the North, particularly girl-child education.”
He further regretted that, “it has become painfully obvious that the federal government is unable to muster the will or the capacity to limit exposure of Nigerians to violent criminals.”