Protests have greeted the streets of Katsina as residents expressed their anger over the kidnapping of hundreds of Government Science Secondary School (GSSS) students in the Kankara Local Government Area of the state.
Gunmen, suspected to be terrorists had, on Friday night, attacked the school, shot a policeman in the leg, and took away the students to an unknown destination.
The protesters, made up of women and youths, lamented the fate of their children and wards as they called on relevant authorities to rescue them.
Some of the protesters, whose children or siblings were missing, displayed inscriptions: ‘We need our children back,’ ‘Government must talk,’ ‘Kankara wants the children back,’ among others.
A source in the area said the protest was organised by a Katsina lady, based in Kaduna State, whose son was abducted during the attack.
Efforts to get the Principal and the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) chairman of GSSS Kankara, to speak on the incident were unsuccessful, as they were said to have been “restricted” from speaking with newsmen on the matter.
Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, yesterday said 333 of the 839 students of the school were yet to be accounted for.
Earlier, an unconfirmed report had said 54 of them over 800 students were missing even as President Muhammadu Buhari, who is in the state for a one-week visit, ordered for a quick military operation to rescue the students.
Following the incident, Governor Aminu Masari ordered the closure of all boarding secondary schools, even as he assured parents of concerted effort to rescue those abducted.
