Zamfara school abduction: Evolve strategies that’ll end insecurity, ACF charges FG

Following the abduction of female students of the Federal University of Gusau, in Zamfara state, the apex socio-cultural mouthpiece of the North, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has charged the Federal government to eradicate banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism bedevilling the country once and for all.

This was contained in a statement issued by the National Publicity, ACF, Professor Tukur Muhammad Baba and made available to newsmen in Kaduna on Sunday.

ACF noted with disdain that from the information gathered, the attack at the Federal University was well planned and executed by the bandits and the female students were their target.

But more worrisome according to ACF was the conversation heard from one of the female students saying her father called her to come back home, telling her this was the end of her academic pursuit.

The other disturbing scenario, the statement maintained was the conversation of a parent overheard advising admission seekers against coming to the university.

Part of the text read:

“It is with utter consternation that the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) received news about the abduction of mostly female students of the Federal University Gusau (FUGUS), from their private hostels, at Sabon Gida Village, Bungudu Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

“Although official information about the incident is scanty, relative to the enormity of the incident, personal testimonies from witnesses to the disturbing incident suggest that the attack was well planned, coordinated and executed by the bandits/terrorists.

” Evidently, female students were specifically targeted, and the bandits were at the crime scene fully prepared. Efforts to repel the bandits by elements of the Nigerian Army neither deterred nor stopped the bandits from going off with a yet-to-be-fully ascertained number of hapless victims.

“ACF condemns the abductions in the strongest of terms. It is very disconcerting that such a most unfortunate criminal incident is not the first of its kind in memory but it certainly is one abduction far too many to occur in any community in Nigeria, nor elsewhere in the world.

To this end, the statement, ” ​Calls on the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) to spare no efforts in ensuring that the abducted students are released unharmed forthwith.

“As always, ACF urges the FGN to rejig Nigeria’s security architecture and to come up with new multi-pronged containment strategies against security and related existential threats bedevilling schools and indeed all communities.

” Such new strategies should aim at the total eradication of the scourge of banditry and terrorism country-wide.”

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