TheCable

Some students of Prince Academy in Chikun local government area of Kaduna state have been abducted.

The students who were preparing for their examination were abducted on Monday morning.

The gunmen were said to have first raided houses in Damba-Kasaya community in Chikun LGA before heading to the school.

Bawa Wakili, a resident of the community, said the gunmen came “in a large number like they always do” and were shooting sporadically throughout the operation.

Wakili, who lamented the security situation in rural communities, said he relocated to Damba-Kasaya a couple of months ago after an attack on Rumana Gbagyi, his village, still in Chikun LGA.

“They abducted many people in the village, then they went to Prince Academy and abducted many of the students who were receiving lessons for their JSS3 exams,” he said.

“I cannot say how many people were kidnapped, but they went away with many people. Soldiers who came to the rescue , turned back after some few kilometres, leaving some of the villagers who accompanied them to rescue the victims.
“The villagers, not knowing that the soldiers had withdrawn, kept pursuing the bandits in the bush, the bandits fired at them and one person was killed.”

Mohammed Jalige, spokesman of the Kaduna state police command, could not be reached for comments as his mobile phone was switched off.

Chikun is one of the Kaduna LGAs that has recorded multiple attacks.

Four days ago, gunmen broke into a hotel in Damishi community in Chikun, abducting six people including, two nursing mothers and their babies.

Earlier on Monday, Amnesty International said bandits have killed at least 1,126 villagers across Nigeria in 2020 alome.

In a new report, the human rights watchdog said the killings were carried out from January to June 2020 during which about 380 people were also abducted by the bandits.