Buhari issues directive to security agencies over Bethel kidnapping

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has directed security agencies to guarantee the safe and early release of all abducted victims in the nation.

Buhari gave the command after bandits attacked Bethel Baptist boarding school at Maramara Chickun Local Government Area of Kaduna State and abducted dozens of students.

It was gathered that the gunmen forcefully gained entrance into the school by breaking part of the perimeter fence of the college before military officials thwarted the attack.

Responding, President Buhari in a statement issued by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, on Monday, depicted the kidnapping as “cowardly and despicable, as well as an assault on affected families and the nation.”

Shehu declared that the President was concerned over attacks on Kaduna and Niger States, largely targeted at students.

He appealed to security outfits to “act swiftly” to rescue all school boys and girls in the affected states and guarantee their safe return.

The President disclosed that the alarming incidents of students’ abduction, mostly in Northern states, were already threatening to undermine efforts in improving school enrolments in states that were declared educationally backward.

Buhari, however, called on state governments to guarantee compliance with United Nations-supported Safe Schools Programme, which the present government had implemented.