2014: Former Female Presidential Candidate condemns and mourns abduction of over 280 school girls in Borno and Kaduna States

A former female Presidential, Prof. Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies has condemned and mourned the abduction of over 280 school girls in Ganboru, Borno State and Kaduna state, describing it as ‘alarming, overwhelming and humbling’ while calling for “an end to this Islamist Jihadists Agenda by terrorists to stabilize the Nigeria, nation. It was reported that, “Over 100 females, plus staff members, totalling over 280 persons, kidnapped by terrorists from IDP camps in Nigeria.”

The Christian Mother, Funmilayo said she has since remained, shocked, dazed, mute and speechless. Yet to recover after reading all these news.

Adesanya-Davies, while soberly and sadly reflecting on and reacting to the incidence, says, “she agrees with former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode that, “the abductions are a declaration of “WAR against Nigeria and we must fight it courageously, vigorously and mercilessly and take NO prisoners!”

Femi Kayode had tweeted, “Events in Gamboru Ngala in Borno State, Northern Nigeria where dozens of women were abducted by Islamist terrorists a few days ago and in Kuriga, Kaduna state where no less than 280 school girls were abducted from their school again by Islamist terrorists in the early hours of this morning are deeply troubling.”

“My heart goes out to the women and young girls that were kidnapped, to their husbands, parents and relatives, to Governor Uba Sani (@ubasanius) of Kaduna, to Governor Babagana Zulum (@ProfZulum) of Borno and the leaders, traditional rulers and people of both states.”

“I wholeheartedly condemn these shameful and cowardly abductions and I call for the summary execution and extrajudicial elimination of all terrorists and kidnappers.

Adesanya-Davies reinstates,
“This is a WAR and we must fight it courageously, vigorously and mercilessly and take NO prisoners!”

“Every single one of these cruel, callous, bloodthirsty and evil terrorist beasts that target, murder and abduct our innocent and defenceless women and children and that terrorise our people must be utterly crushed, decimated and annihilated and, in a glorious hail of gunfire and bombs, despatched back to hell where they belong.

“I have no doubt that these attacks and abductions are being co-ordinated by forces both within and outside Nigeria in an attempt to destabilise our country and undermine our Government and we need to rise to the occasion, expose them as quickly and expeditiously as possible and hit them with everything that we have got.

“It is my prayer that the abducted women and children are rescued at the soonest and I have no doubt that both Governor Sani and Governor Zulum, in conjunction with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (@officialABAT) and our security agencies and Armed Forces, will ensure that this is done.

“Vanguard reported how over 200 students of LEA primary school were kidnapped in Kaduna on Thursday, days after over 280 girls were kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram terrorists, in what could be described as a renewed insurgent attack on public schools in northern Nigeria.

In a similar vein, over 17 people were killed early Friday in Benue and five policemen lost their lives to a gunmen attack in Ebonyi state on Friday, highlighting the rise in insecurity in Nigeria

More than hundred females were reportedly kidnapped when Boko Haram insurgents stormed internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ngala, the headquarters of Gambarou Ngala in Borno State

Quoting a security source, _Daily Trust_ put the number of persons abducted by the terrorists at 113.

The newspaper further stated that the incident happened last Sunday, when the women went to fetch firewood in the bush for domestic and commercial purposes.

“They were surrounded by the insurgents in Bula kunte bush in the western part of Ngala town. They freed the old-aged and entered the bush with 319 abled young girls and some young boys.

“But, three of the girls who escaped and returned to Ngala said the boys (insurgents) took them to a bush close to Bukar-mairam village in Chad republic.

“They escaped in the dead of night after the insurgents fell asleep, trekking for two days before they arrived in Ngala.

“Most of the IDPs girls abducted were from Babban Sansani camp, and the rest from Zulum and Arabic camps.

“They went to the bush to fetch firewood for sale because the food we are getting from the camp is not enough to feed us. Life is so difficult here,” he said.

Another source from the security said it’s the economic pressure that forces most of them to go. They have no means of livelihood other than cutting off the tree for sale.

“This is one of the major abductions that took place in Borno, since the kidnapping of 276 girls of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, on the night of 14 April 2014.

It has been rightly observed “There are two reasons for the mass abductions and kidnappings that we are witnessing in our country today.

“Firstly to garner cash which is then sent abroad to buy more arms and fund terror and secondly to destabilise our country and to discredit and undermine the credibility of our President and the Federal Government.

“This is precisely what we witnessed when the Chibok girls and other children were abducted over the years and the motives are the same.

“There are numerous shady and sinister characters, international criminal cartels, foreign Governments and intelligence agencies and local accomplices and facilitators that are involved in this great evil.

“Nigeria has been targeted for destruction, division and disintegration by those that see us as a threat to their regional hegemony, strategic national interests and imperialist aspirations but most of us still don’t get it and perhaps never will.

It is time that we confront the matter with an iron hand and fight back to save Nigeria.

“Ask, who funds the terrorists and bandits and where do they get their weapons from?

“They did it in Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Algeria, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, Syria and so many other countries over the years and decades and now they are doing it here.

Again how is it that just a few days after the mass abduction of women in Gamburu Ngala, Borno state and just one day after the kidnapping of 280 female students in Kuriga, Kaduna state yet another 15 students were abducted in Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto state just yesterday.

Toyibat Ajose in a progress report on March 10, 2024 says, “Shettima meets with parents of abducted Kaduna students, vows victims’ safe return.”

It was reported that, “Vice President Kashim Shettima has met with the leaders of the Kuriga community in Kaduna State and the representatives of families of students abducted in the state.

Close to 300 students of LEA Primary School and Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State were abducted earlier in the week.

But at the meeting on Saturday at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House in Kaduna, Shettima assured of the government’s resolve to ensure the students are rescued.

He told them that the president has instructed security agencies to leave no stone unturned until all the kids are rescued while urging the media to be circumspect in their reportage about the incident.

According to him, the Federal Government shares in their pains over the mass abduction.

At the event, Governor Uba Sani thanked Shettima for the visit as well as the untiring efforts of the Federal Government towards the safe return of the abducted students.

Governor Sani expressed optimism that all the children will return unhurt. He, however, appealed to the media not to sensationalize or politicize the incident, noting that such could jeopardize the ongoing rescue efforts by security forces.

Furthermore, Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Friday sent troops to rescue more than 250 pupils kidnapped by gunmen from a school in the country’s northwest in one of the largest mass abductions in three years.

The Kaduna state attack was the second mass kidnapping in a week in Africa’s most populous state, where heavily armed criminal gangs on motorbikes target victims in villages and schools and along highways in the hunt for ransom payments.

Local government officials in Kaduna State confirmed the kidnapping attack on Kuriga school on Thursday but gave no figures as they said they were still working out how many children had been abducted.

Sani Abdullahi, a teacher at the GSS Kuriga school in Chikun district, said staff managed to escape with many students when the gunmen known locally as bandits attacked early Thursday firing in the air.

He told local officials that 187 pupils had been snatched from the main junior school along with another 100 from the primary classes.

“Early in the morning… we heard gunshots from bandits, and before we knew it they had gathered up the children,” local resident Musa Mohammed told AFP.

“We are pleading to the government, all of us are pleading, they should please help us with security.”

Another resident Muhammad Adam also told AFP more than 280 have been kidnapped. Two more locals said around 200 were abducted.

The Kaduna abduction and the mass kidnapping a week ago from a camp for people displaced by jihadists in northeast Borno illustrate the challenge facing Tinubu who promised to make Nigeria safer and bring in more foreign investment.

“I have received a briefing from security chiefs on the two incidents, and I am confident that the victims will be rescued,” Tinubu said in a statement ordering armed forces to track down the kidnappers.

“Nothing else is acceptable to me and the waiting family members of these abducted citizens. Justice will be decisively administered.”

The two mass kidnappings also came almost ten years after Boko Haram jihadists triggered a huge international outcry by kidnapping more than 250 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno state.

Hundreds of schoolchildren and college students have been kidnapped in mass abductions in the northwest and central region, including in Kaduna, in the last three years.

Almost all were released for ransom payments after weeks or months spent in captivity at camps hidden in forests that stretch across northwestern states.

UN child welfare agency UNICEF condemned Thursday’s attack and called on the government to do more to protect students.

“Schools are supposed to be sanctuaries of learning and growth, not sites of fear and violence,” UNICEF Nigeria director Christian Munduate said in a statement.

“This latest abduction, as any previously, is highly condemnable and part of a worrying trend of attacks on educational institutions in Nigeria.”

We’d learnt Nigeria’s armed forces are battling on several fronts, including against armed criminals in the northwest and the long-running jihadist insurgency in the northeast that has killed 40,000 and displaced more than two million since 2009.

Last September, gunmen abducted more than 30 people, including 24 female students, in a raid around a university in northwest Zamfara State.

In February 2021, bandits raided a girls’ boarding school in the town of Jangebe in Zamfara, kidnapping around 300 students. Months earlier, gunmen snatched more than 300 students from a boys’ school in Kankara in Katsina state before releasing them days later.

Between July 2022 and June 2023, 3,620 people were abducted in 582 kidnap-related incidents in Nigeria, according to local risk analysts SBM Intelligence. In January, SBM said 3,964 people had been abducted since Tinubu took office in May last year.

Adesanya-Davies mourns the women and young girls and others that were kidnapped, while sending words of consolation to their husbands, parents and relatives, as well as Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna, and Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno and the leaders, traditional rulers and people of both states.

While hoping President Bola Tinubu would come on top of all these, I condemn and mourn the incidences with faith that the Almighty God, Himself will reigned judgement over all these terrorists and kidnappers, help our government and save our nation. “There is GOD o!”‘

An Ex-president Candidate in 2019, Bishop Prof. Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies is the current Country President of United Nations Positive Livelihood Award Center (UN-POLAC) and the the Secretary General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Ecclesiastical Affairs (NSCEA).

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