Attacks by armed gangs, commonly called bandits, have increased in northwestern Nigeria in recent years. Four kidnappings of schools since December have sparked nationwide outrage.
About 39 students, including a pregnant woman, are still missing during the abduction of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, in northwestern Nigeria.
Samuel Aruwan, Kaduna’s state commissioner for internal security and home affairs, said police, the army and others had repulsed attacks on another school and at a local government office near Kaduna airport.
“The Kaduna state government is extending its unequivocal solidarity to the army, police, the department of public services and other security agencies, whose swift intervention prevented the bandits from kidnapping more people,” Aruwan said.
Alru 307 students at the Government Science Secondary School in Ikara have been offset, Aruwan said, adding that the army and air force are also repelling an attack on senior staff quarters in Ifira town in the local government area of Igabi.
In the video, a university student said that their prisoners wanted a ransom of 500 million naira ($ 1.3 million).
“As a government, our focus is on getting our missing students back and preventing further episodes of school abductions,” Aruwan said.
President Muhammadu Buhari spoke in a video message on Twitter on Sunday, urging states to address security issues at every level and said military service chiefs would quickly address broader security issues.
“We are going to be very hard on the criminals,” he said, adding that “confidence in the government must be restored within the next six weeks.”