TheCable

President Muhammadu Buhari has warned bandits not to entertain any illusion that they are more powerful than the government.

The president was reacting to the abduction of schoolgirls from Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, in Talata-Mafara local government area of Zamfara, on Friday.

Over 300 students were abducted by gunmen who stormed the school in the early hours of Friday.

Security operatives have been deployed to the area to ensure safe return of the students, while Bello Matawalle, governor of Zamfara, has ordered the immediate closure of all boarding schools in the state.

In a statement issued on Friday evening by Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, Buhari said his administration will not “succumb to blackmail by bandits who target innocent school students in the expectations of huge ransom payments”.

“Let them not entertain any illusions that they are more powerful than the government. They shouldn’t mistake our restraint for the humanitarian goals of protecting innocent lives as a weakness or a sign of fear or irresolution,” the president added.

The Zamfara attack comes less than two weeks after students and staff members were abducted from Government Science College, Kagara, Niger state.

The students, who were kidnapped in the early hours of February 17, have not yet been released.

Meanwhile, over 1,000 students have been abducted from schools across northern Nigeria over the past seven years.