Kankara Schoolboys – The Commerce Africa https://thecommerceafrica.com African Reneissance Fri, 18 Dec 2020 08:44:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9 U.S. Urges Nigeria to Hold Kidnappers of Kankara Schoolboys Accountable https://thecommerceafrica.com/u-s-urges-nigeria-to-hold-kidnappers-of-kankara-schoolboys-accountable/ https://thecommerceafrica.com/u-s-urges-nigeria-to-hold-kidnappers-of-kankara-schoolboys-accountable/#respond Fri, 18 Dec 2020 08:44:05 +0000 http://thecommerceafrica.com/?p=2942 The United States (U.S.) on Thursday condemned the abduction of hundreds of children by gunmen from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State, on Dec. 11 and urged the government to hold those responsible accountable ” to the full extent of the law”.

The U.S. Department of State condemned the abduction in a statement issued by a spokesperson, Cale Brown, after the release of the abducted students on Thursday.

“We offer our sincere sympathies to the families of the missing students and the security guard killed in the attack.

“School should be a safe place where children can learn and thrive,” it said.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on Saturday strongly condemned the attack on the school in Kankara and charged the military and the police to go after the attackers to ensure that no student was missing or harmed.

In a statement by Garba Shehu, his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, the President had also directed the reinforcement of security at all schools in line with the safe schools policy of the administration.

The Governor of the state, Aminu Masari had on Saturday also ordered the immediate closure of all boarding secondary schools in the state and pleaded with parents to remain calm as efforts were being made by the government to ensure the safe return of the Kankara students.

Governor Masari later announced Thursday night that the students had been freed following successful negotiations with their abductors.

(NAN)

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Boko Haram Claims Responsibility for Abduction of Kankara Schoolboys https://thecommerceafrica.com/boko-haram-claims-responsibility-for-abduction-of-kankara-schoolboys/ https://thecommerceafrica.com/boko-haram-claims-responsibility-for-abduction-of-kankara-schoolboys/#respond Tue, 15 Dec 2020 07:21:19 +0000 http://thecommerceafrica.com/?p=2921 The Boko Haram terrorists have claimed responsibility for the abduction of hundreds of schoolboys of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara in Katsina State on Friday night.

In the wake of the attack, at least 600 out of over 800 schoolboys were declared missing.

Although the state governor, Aminu Masari, claimed only 333 are missing, a school register register seen by Daily Trust reporter showed 668 students missing.

In a 4:30 audio message sent to DAILY NIGERIAN on Tuesday morning, the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, said his group abducted the schoolboys because Western education is against the tenets of Islam.

“What happened in Katsina was done to promote Islam and discourage un-Islamic practices as Western education is not the type of education permitted by Allah and his Holy Prophet.

“They are also not teaching what Allah and his Holy Prophet commanded. They are rather destructing the Islam. It may be subtly, but Allah the Lord of the Skies and Earths knows whatever is hidden. May Allah promote Islam, may we die as Muslims.”

“In a nutshell, we are behind what happened in Katsina,” he said.

The terrorists’ leader ended the message by saying: “The speaker is Abubakar Shekau, leader of Jama’atu Ahlussunna Lid-Da’awati wal Jihad.”

Mr Shekau neither gave detail of the attack nor number of the abducted schoolboys nor mentioned issue of negotiation with government.

Even before Mr Shekau released the audio, Bulama Bukarti, an analyst at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change told London Telegraph that there were Boko Haram footprints in the abduction.

According to Mr Bulama, the Boko Haram leader has been trying to establish operations in the region west of Katsina State.

He said several hundred fighters in Zamfara State recently claimed to be operating a Boko Haram cell that is loyal to Mr Shekau.

He added that a similar number of fighters were also recorded claiming allegiance to Mr Shekau in Niger State.

“It is also possible the fighters moved through the large forest from a neighbouring state to stage the attack. Men can be heard shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ in the background during one eyewitness video of the raid,” Mr Bulama said.

Daily Nigeria

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