‘All abducted Afaka students are female’ — school official claims

The 30 students abducted from Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Igabi LGA of Kaduna, are female, an official of the school has told TheCable.

The official who spoke on the condition of anonymity also faulted the claims that 180 students and teachers were rescued by security agents following the attack.

Bandits had invaded the school in the early hours of Friday.

Samuel Aruwan, Kaduna commissioner for internal security and home affairs, had subsequently said 180 students and teachers were rescued by security operatives, while 30 students were missing.

But the school official who spoke with TheCable said there was no rescue operation, noting that the security personnel only counted the students who came out of hiding after the bandits had left.

The official said the bandits’ point of entry into the school was close to the female hostel. He said some of the female students managed to escape while others were abducted.

He said students from other hostels, upon hearing the gunshots, ran into hiding.

“We really don’t understand this story about rescuing 180 of the students,” the official said.

“In reality, the students were not rescued. When the bandits came, the students ran into hiding. In the process of running to escape, many of them got injured.

“All those abducted were female students because the bandits attacked their hostel which was the closest from where the criminals entered after breaking the fence.

“Some of the female students managed to escape, but about 30 of them were abducted. The truth is that when the security agents arrived the school, all the students came out from hiding and they decided to count them.

“After counting them they moved them to the Old Campus of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) for safety and now they are saying that they rescued them.”

Meanwhile, TheCable observed the presence of security personnel at the school following the attack.

The security personnel prevented journalists from entering the school premises.

“We will not allow anybody inside the school, but you can take pictures of the signboard if you want,” a soldier told TheCable’s reporter.