- Safiu Kehinde
President Bola Tinubu has ordered the Minister of State for Defence, Alhaji Bello Matawalle, to relocate to Kebbi State over the abduction of 25 schoolgirls in the state.
NPO Reported that the students were on Monday abducted by the bandits in an early morning attack on Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga town.
Sequel to the development, Tinubu directed Matawalle to relocate to Kebbi over the incident.
As disclosed in a statement issued on Thursday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Startegy, Bayo Onanuga, Matawalle was asked to remain in the state to monitor security efforts to secure the release of the abducted students.
According to the statement, the former Zamfara state governor, who is expected to arrive in Birni-Kebbi on Friday, gained some experience in dealing with banditry and mass kidnapping during his tenure as governor of Zamfara State from 2019 to 2023.
On 26 February 2021, armed bandits abducted 279 female students aged between 10 and 17 at the Government Girls Science Secondary School, a boarding school in Jangebe, in Zamfara State.
The bandits released all the hostages on 2 March 2021.
Meanwhile, Onanuga recalled that Tinubu had postponed of his scheduled trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, and Luanda, Angola, as he awaited further security briefings on the kidnapped Kebbi schoolgirls and the attack on Christ Apostolic Church worshippers in Eruku, Kwara State.