Security forces in northwest Nigeria have launched an intensified manhunt for the 25 schoolgirls abducted during a pre-dawn raid on their school in Kebbi State.
The attackers struck Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga around 4am on Monday. According to police, armed men on motorcycles stormed the compound, exchanged gunfire with officers, then scaled the perimeter fence and seized the students. The school’s vice principal was killed during the assault.
No group has claimed responsibility, and investigators are still probing the motive behind the attack.
By Tuesday morning, security teams had spread out into nearby forests known to shelter armed gangs. Additional units were positioned along major routes leading in and out of the area. Kebbi Governor Nasir Idris visited the school shortly after the incident and pledged swift action. Hours later, Nigeria’s army chief, Lieutenant-General Waidi Shaibu, met with soldiers and ordered an aggressive, intelligence-led operation to track the kidnappers.
“We must find these children,” he told the troops. “Act decisively on all intelligence. Success is not optional.”
He urged forces to sustain round-the-clock pressure and “leave no stone unturned.”
This week’s abduction marks the second mass kidnapping in Kebbi State in four years. In June 2021, more than 100 students and staff were seized from a government college. Those victims were released in stages over two years as families paid ransoms, and some returned home after being forced into marriage and giving birth while in captivity.
Nigeria continues to struggle with school kidnappings. More than 1,500 students nationwide have been taken since Boko Haram abducted 276 girls in Chibok in 2014. In March 2024, more than 130 students in Kaduna State were rescued after spending over two weeks in captivity.
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