By Joy Essien, Contributing Editor, Lagos Metropolitan.
This is a developing story as the police, the military and the Kebbi State Government have not issued any statement about the incident.
Terrorists by midnight on Monday abducted at least 25 schoolgirls from Maga Comprehensive Girls’ Secondary School in Danko Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State.
The terrorists also reportedly killed a teacher, Hassan Makuku, and local guard, simply identified as Ali, during the invasion.
The community leaders said there was an intel before the attack and the Kebbi State Governor, Nasir Idris, instructed soldiers at the Ribah junction checkpoint to mobilise to the school.
“The soldiers indeed went to the school and left around 12 a.m.,” one of the traditional leaders said. “It was after the soldiers left that the bandits struck.”
Locals told our reporter that the terrorists, locally known as bandits, infiltrated the area through Zamfara forests, and operated unhindered despite two military checkpoints near the school. One in Damarke, about 7 kilometers from the school and the other is around Rabah junction in Maga, about 1 kilometer from the school. The checkpoint is said to be fortified with heavy military equipment including an armoured personnel carrier (APC).
Danko/Wasagu shares boundaries and forest corridors with Zamfara and Niger states, areas where armed groups maintain entrenched camps and shifting hideouts, making Maga an easy target.
Security analysts believe the attackers likely moved through the Kuyambana–Kamuku forest axis, a notorious route long used for raids, retreats, and ransom negotiations.
Residents said the assailants scaled the school’s fence undetected, taking advantage of the absence of perimeter lighting and limited night patrols.
Across Kebbi, Zamfara, and Niger, school attacks now occur between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., when vigilance is lowest and reinforcements are slow to respond.
2 girls who are said to have escaped from their captors were seen early this morning (Tuesday 18th Nov).
Investigations are ongoing.
