Tinubu’s Govt Raises Alarm As Bandits Plan to Attack Schools in 14 States, Lists, Details Emerges

• Tinubu's government has raised an alarm over possible attacks by bandits in 14 states of the federation
• Hajia Halima Iliya, the national coordinator of Financing Safe Schools in Nigeria, noted plans to beef up security in the affected states
• The commander of the National Safe Schools Response Coordination Centre, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Hammed Abodunrin, listed the states under bandits' radar for fresh attacks

Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements.

FCT, Abuja - Amid the spate of attacks and kidnappings in Abuja, the federal government led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said schools in 14 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, are at risk of fresh attacks by bandits and insurgents.

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14 states bandits are planning to attack

As reported by The Punch, the national coordinator of Financing Safe Schools in Nigeria, Hajia Halima Iliya, raised the alarm on Sunday, March 10. She disclosed that the data on schools at risk had been collected for intervention.

Iliya declined to identify the states, but the commander of the National Safe Schools Response Coordination Centre, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Hammed Abodunrin, listed those at risk. The states include:

1. Adamawa state
2. Bauchi state
3. Borno state
4. Benue state
5. Yobe state
6. Katsina state
7. FCT, Abuja
8. Kebbi state,
9. Sokoto state,
10. Plateau state,
11. Zamfara and three other states.

Kidnappings across northern states

No fewer than 465 pupils, teachers, and women abducted in the past week are still in the custody of their captors.

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Borno, Kaduna abduction: Tinubu told to relocate military chiefs until children, women are rescued

Also, two days after the abduction of over 280 pupils in Kaduna state, bandits, in the early hours of Saturday, March 9, reportedly kidnapped an unspecified number of Tsangaya students at Gidan Bakuso in the Gada local government area of Sokoto state.

The students were abducted from their school around 1:am on Saturday, according to Daily Trust. The school proprietor, Liman Abubakar, was cited as saying that 15 students had not been accounted for so far, even though the counting of students and others was ongoing.

Why banditry has lasted for long

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Shehu Sani, a former senator from Kaduna, blamed corruption for Nigeria's years-long battle with banditry and terrorism.

Sani stated this while speaking on a space on X organised by Legit.ng.

He said that terrorists are “afraid” of attacking targets in neighbouring countries like Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, but the same cannot be said of Nigeria.

Source: Legit.ng