President Bola Tinubu has postponed his planned trips to South Africa and Angola following the abduction of schoolgirls in Kebbi and the attack on worshippers in the Eruku community of Kwara state.
A statement issued on Wednesday by Bayo Onanuga, special adviser on information and strategy to the president, said Tinubu took the decision after receiving a request from AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, governor of Kwara, for increased security deployment to the troubled area.
Onanuga said the president ordered the dispatch of additional security personnel to Eruku and the entire Ekiti LGA, with a directive to the police to track down the attackers who invaded the Christ Apostolic Church on Monday.
Tinubu had been scheduled to depart Abuja today for Johannesburg to attend the 20th G20 Summit of leaders before proceeding to Luanda for the 7th AU-EU Summit.
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Onanuga said the president is now awaiting updates from Kashim Shettima, the vice-president, who visited Kebbi on his behalf, as well as reports from the police and the Department of State Services (DSS) on the situation in Kwara.
He added that Tinubu reaffirmed his instruction to the security agencies to “do everything possible” to rescue the 24 schoolgirls abducted in Kebbi and ensure their safe return home.
BACKGROUND
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On Tuesday evening, worshippers were abducted when bandits attacked the CAC branch at Oke Isegun in Eruku, a boundary town with Kogi in Ekiti LGA of Kwara state.
More than five armed bandits stormed the building, ransacked the church, and took the worshippers’ belongings.
The Kwara police command said three persons, including a vigilante, were injured but did not confirm the number of those abducted or killed.
Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi, police spokesperson in Kwara, said operatives, in collaboration with vigilantes, responded to “an attempted bandit attack in Eruku”.
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She said the bandits fled into the bush following the intervention of police and vigilantes.
The attack comes less than 48 hours after bandits raided Government Girls Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi state, abducting 25 schoolgirls.
