Parents of abducted Kaduna students cry out for help

The parents of some of the 285 students abducted by bandits on Thursday from the LEA Primary and Junior Secondary School, Kuriga, Chikun Local Government…
The parents of some of the 285 students abducted by bandits on Thursday from the LEA Primary and Junior Secondary School, Kuriga, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, have cried out for help.
In separate interviews with Daily Trust at the weekend, the distraught parents appealed to the federal government and the Kaduna State government to assist in securing the release of their children.

Fati Kuriga, mother of one of the abductees, Suleiman, called on Governor Uba Sani to do all within his powers to fast track the safe return of her son and all the other abductees.

“My name is Fatima, I am the mother of Suleiman who was kidnapped in school. We are begging the Kaduna State governor to help us. While I was sitting at home on Thursday after my son went to school, I heard sounds of gunshots and when I came out, I was told it was bandits who came and kidnapped our children.
“We are appealing to the Kaduna State government to help us. We are running out of food and in a terrible condition. Our husbands don’t sleep at night because they are on patrol of our community against bandits’ attacks. Now, our abducted children are in a pathetic situation in the bush without food and water coupled with the hot weather.

“Even the boy that escaped, we saw how terrified he was when he came. He told us that in the daytime, they (the bandits) would throw them into a hole in the forest. We don’t have presence of security operatives in Kuriga. I heard what the governor said when he came; we pray that he will keep to his words.

“We are also calling on the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to come to our aid. These bandits are in the bush very close to our community. So, we need help,” Fatima said.

Khadijah Abdulrauf, mother of another abducted student, who said she was missing her daughter, Safiya Hassan, wanted government’s quick intervention to get her and others out of captivity.

“My daughter, Safiya Hassan, was sick when she left for school on the fateful day. She did not even take breakfast because I didn’t want her to be late.

She stated: “Bandits invaded the school and trapped our children. Our youths tried to rescue them, but they were overpowered by the bandits because our youths do not have weapons while the bandits were carrying guns. We were helplessly watching them taking our children to the bush; we cried and are still crying. We are begging the governor to help us rescue our children.

“We have serious security challenges in Kuriga where our youths sleep in the bush to protect our community. We don’t have cows or sheep in our village because the bandits have rustled all and we are left with nothing. We are battling hunger now.
disputed the report that 28 students had escaped.

“We are not aware of such information that some children had returned or escaped. I can assure you that all the children are from Kuriga town, not even from outside the village, and their parents are indigenes of this town.

He appealed to the government and the security agencies to ensure safe return of the students.

He also said the captors had not reached out to the parents of the captives.

Governor Sani had, hours after the incident on Thursday, visited the community and assured that all the students would be rescued unharmed.

Similarly, the federal government had said it would spare no effort in its pursuit of justice for the victims, and in its determination to hold the abductors accountable “to the full extent of the law.”