On Monday, at least 25 schoolgirls were abducted from the dormitory of Government Girls Comprehensive Senior Secondary School in Maga, Danko/Wasagu LGA, Kebbi State.
Bandits attacked the school around 4 a.m., killing the vice-principal, Hassan Makuku, who reportedly died defending his students. A security guard is still hospitalised after sustaining gunshot wounds. Despite an armed police response and a shootout, the attackers escaped with the girls.
This tragedy feels like another chapter in Nigeria’s long history of school kidnappings — from the Chibok abduction of April 14–15, 2014, where 276 girls were taken, to the Dapchi attack of February 19, 2018, where 110 girls were abducted. One, Leah Sharibu, remains in captivity. Five died. Eleven years later, at least 90 Chibok girls are still missing.
The Kebbi attack forms part of a shocking count of 145 abductions in just four days across Kebbi, Niger, and Zamfara states — a stark reflection of how banditry and mass kidnappings have become normalised in Nigeria.
Despite global scrutiny, and even past warnings from former U.S. President Donald Trump about military intervention over Nigeria’s insecurity, the government and military continue to downplay these incidents, appearing unwilling or unable to confront the scale of the crisis.
Meanwhile, political leaders seem more focused on the 2027 elections than on the lives of citizens living in fear.
The Bola Tinubu administration urgently needs to recognise that Nigeria is effectively at war. This requires cohesion, resolve, and a deliberate national security strategy.
As expected, the government has once again promised to rescue the girls. On Monday, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, condemned the attack and reaffirmed the President’s commitment to protecting Nigerians.
“Our security and intelligence agencies have clear directives to locate, rescue, and safely return the students, and to ensure that the perpetrators face justice,” he said.
But for many Nigerians, such assurances now ring hollow. There is deep public distrust, rooted in years of unfulfilled promises and repeated tragedies.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar noted ongoing violence in Kano, Plateau, Benue, and other states where communities are being displaced and forced to flee for safety.
The military cannot continue to operate defensively. They must take the fight to the terrorists locate their strongholds, disrupt their routes, strike from the air and ground, and dismantle networks embedded within communities. Reacting only after attacks is no longer acceptable.
Nigeria also needs to actively seek advanced support and regional cooperation to regain control of its security landscape.
Two of the abducted Kebbi girls have reportedly escaped, but the fate of the others remains unknown echoing the painful stories of previous mass kidnappings.
Schools across Nigeria have now become battlegrounds, vulnerable to bandits and jihadists who exploit porous borders and weak security structures.
How do we explain that 145 people were kidnapped in four days, yet national leaders are more concerned with political positioning and international optics?
Nigerians need real protection. If the government cannot provide it, then it must seek help from those who can. Downplaying these horrors is both irresponsible and unjust to the families who have lost fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, and friends.
People are now afraid to send their children to school.
The government must act decisively or step aside for someone who will.
by; Ogbonyemi Eric Elesho
credit: punch
